Seeking Hades
by SephCurrentDaughterofPoseidon
Summary: Claire is a sixteen year old daughter of Hermes and has been at camp every summer since she was twelve. Matt on the other hand is a demigod mercenary for whoever pays the highest price. When Matt is chased into camp by Furies for a job, they both get stuck together on a quest to the underworld and neither of them are thrilled about it.
1. The New Guy

CLAIRE:

It was a full moon. Clear sky, and a beautiful summer night. Everyone knew what that meant. Hermes pranking sessions. Claire Wilson, daughter of Hermes, was no exception. She was on her way to the archery shed, intent on stealing the Apollo kids tools. She had on black pants, a black shirt, and even a black beanie which was hiding her chocolate brown hair. A black nylon bag hung on her shoulders, enchanted by the Hecate cabin, it was just waiting to be stuffed with precious evidence. Slipping into the small wooden shed, she began collecting the weapons as silently as possible, casting a paranoid look over her shoulder every now and then, hoping that her blue eyes wouldn't catch any unwanted visitors. She had never gotten caught before and that wasn't going to be the day she started if she had anything to do with it.

Once the last bow was stored securely in her bag, she flung it back over her shoulder, smiling because it still felt light as a feather. When she started creeping out of the shed, she was thinking about how happy she was to only be five five. The shortness made her a smaller target. She casted a quick glance around the camp. She smirked at the sight of her other siblings contributing to the pranking session. She started her way back to the cabin. It wasn't a long walk, and being a daughter of Hermes made it impossibly faster. Halfway back, she paused, the silence of the night had been pierced by a loud shout coming from Half-Blood Hill. Looking around, she saw that her other siblings had paused as well, letting her know she wasn't crazy. Slowly she began moving forward, toward Thalia's pine tree. A second shout that reminded her of a particularly unpleasant four letter word, caused her to go from a slow walk to a full on sprint in a half a second.

Five seconds she was beside the huge tree, peering down below her on the bottom of the hill. Immediately her blood ran cold. A shrivled hag on wings, (aka: a Fury) was hovering over a guy with shaggy light brown hair. He was scrambling backward, rolling to his feet gracefully. A bronze sword was in his hand and, he looked angry.

"Where is it?" the Fury hissed.

"I don't know what you're talking about, lady!" he exclaimed. "I'm just here on a job!"

Coming out of my shock, I tore down the hill as the Fury swooped at him. He rolled out of the way, landing on the other side of her on his feet. His stance was already crouched and he was ready to attack. He was doing fine on his own until...

Wings flapped behind him and two more hags flew out from the trees behind him. He was unaware. "Look out!" Claire exclaimed, too far away to help.

He jumped and looked at her for a moment, before backing up, it was too late though. All three Furies jumped on him. He slashed his knife and one exploded into a pile of dust, she saw one rake his back with her talons, he groaned in pain but swung again, taking out yet another one. She managed to reach him in time for the last hag to swoop down and catch him by the side of the face, knocking him to the grass. She didn't hesitate as she took out her bronze dagger. Flicking it forward, it caught the Fury in the chest as she was swooping down to deliver the final blow to the strange new boy. She stopped in mid motion and looked down at the blade protruding from her chest in surprise. Like the others she exploded into a pile of dust, right over the newly injured... she didn't know exactly what he was.

She heard more footsteps behind her as she dropped to her knees beside him, trying to keep pressure on a really nasty wound on his shoulder. His eyelids halfway opened for a moment, showing off dark brown eyes, he looked at her. Not knowing what else to do, she said, "Don't worry, everything's gonna be okay." His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he went limp.

She examined the cuts on his face as a son of Apollo, Will Solace, was by her side. Immediately he was pouring nectar on the wound on his side, muttering a quick prayer. Immediately two more Apollo kids came running up: Kayla and Austin. She was shoved out of the way as they went to work. She stumbled backward, looking numbly at her bloody hands.

There was a crowd of demigods at the camp boundary. Two guys ran down, they had a burly build on them, scowles on their faces and scars running down their arms. In other words, they were sons of Ares, Sherman and Mark. They tore down the hill and came to a stop beside the boy. "Do you want us to take him?" Mark questioned.

Kayla looked up at him wearieness in her eyes. "Can you not jolt him?"

"Yes, Ms. Healer," Mark sighed impatiently. "We can 'not jolt him.'"

The three siblings backed off the boy and Mark picked up his legs as Sherman picked up his shoulders. Both boys walked up the hill, showing off what extreme workouts every day did for strength. Slowly the four of them trekked up the hill after the sons of Ares.

Will patted my back on the way up. "Congratulations, Claire. You just saved a life."

MATT:

His face hurt. Especially his right cheek. Then there was his back, and his neck. Oh boy that was his shoulder throbbing as well. Only by pure force of will did he not groan from the pain. He remembered a pair of bright blue eyes laced with worry and the words, "Its gonna be okay."

Friendly territory. That was good. He opened his eyes and saw that the sun was out, beaming through white curtains and giving the large room he was in natural lighting. The room with filled with beds, a few of them occupied with people who were either asleep or talking. All of them obviously unwell. A fairly pretty girl with blonde hair, blue eyes, and tanned skin walked over to him. She smiled at him and said, "Hello, I'm Kayla."

He wasn't interested in making friends. He was interested in leaving. He had a job to do. So instead of introducing himself, he said. "Where's my weapon?"

Her eyebrows creased together and she said, "Its safe in the Big House. You don't need to be wielding any weapon in your condition. You took quite a beating, you've been out for two days."

"I'm fine," he insisted stubbornly.

"You broke one arm, three ribs, your jaw, and there was a hole through your shoulder," she said slowly. "You're far from fine."

He sat up and forced his face to remain devoid of expression. "Look I appreciate you fixing me up, but I need to go."

"Go," she repeated confused. "You had three Furies after you! That reminds me. How did you learn to fight like that? Claire told me what you did. Why were Furies after you in the first place, and what 'job?'"

He looked at her impassively. "I don't know what you're talking about," he lied.

"He's awake?" a voice said behind the curious girl. Kayla moved out of the way and he saw the same pair of blue eyes that he'd seen two days ago.

"Yeah," Kayla sighed, "he just woke up." A beeping noise came sounded in the room. Kayla looked down and guiltily picked a cell phone out of her pocket. The brown haired girl looked at Kayla with a raised eyebrow and a smirk as she answered the phone. "What?" she snapped.

Talking from the other line...

"Ugh, tell Mark he's an idiot!" she exclaimed. "How much blood? Yeah... I'll be right there."

She hastily shoved her cell back in her pocket, visible to anyone that bothered to look. "I've gotta make a quick medicinal run... Mark pissed off one too many of my siblings. He was impaled with a few arrows and no one will help him."

"And you're going to, why?" the brunette asked.

"I don't know!" She groaned as she ran toward a cabinet, no doubt where the ambrosia was kept.

"Can you keep an eye on him, Claire?" Kayla asked breathlessly as she ran for the door. "Make sure he doesn't leave."

Before the girl that Matt guessed was Claire could answer, Kayla was out the door.

"Hey," Claire said smiling as she sat down in the guest's chair. "You'll have to forgive Kayla. Most people here are crazy, but Mark happens to be one of the more extreme cases "

Matt didn't even try to smile back, he just looked at her for a moment, wondering if she would be any note cooperative for helping him get on his way. "I need to leave," he informed her.

Claire frowned. "Why? You're safe here."

Matt shrugged. "I have a job to do. I do the job, I get paid. Simple."

"Do you even know who you are or what attacked you?" she questioned narrowing her eyes.

"Oh I'm very aware," Matt informed her, leaning forward.

**Hey! I hope you enjoyed! This is my new fic, I'm kinda nervous lol, but I have a good feeling about these heroes! Question: who is Matt's father? **

**I only own Matt and Claire.**


	2. A 'Hellish' Quest

CLAIRE:

"I was attacked by Furies. My name is Matt and I'm a son of Ares. None of this," he informed her, "has been news to me since I was twelve. And none of it changes the fact that I have a job to do."

"Fine," Claire shrugged. "Its your neck. You need to talk to Chiron first, though."

Immediately he straightened up, his deep brown eyes closing a fraction in what was probably pain. "Chiron? He's here?"

Claire nodded. "Yeah, has been long before me. He's the activities director."

"Activities director," Matt repeated. "Where the hell am I exactly?"

Not the nicest way to ask... Claire answered anyway, not bothered by his attitude. "Camp Half-Blood."

"I've heard of this place," he murmured. Then louder, "I need to see Chiron right away."

"He's teaching archery right now," she informed him. "You'll have to wait about another half-hour or so."

"I'm already three days behind schedule!" he groaned.

"Look," Claire responded calmly. "I'm sure whatever job you have to do isn't going to be deterred by thirty minutes."

Matt gave her a 'That's what you think,' look.

Claire sighed quietly, not letting him see how annoyed he was making her. "Look, I'm sorry you don't want to be here. But freaking out over it isn't going to help anyone. Do me a favor and don't act like your siblings."

"Those kids here aren't my siblings," he informed her. Claire was surprised by the venom in his voice.

She frowned. "Yeah they are, Ares has a lot of kids, get over it. One thing I have to give all of them, even Mark, is that they look after their own. Apparently I was wrong."

"You've got that right, little girl," he said. "I look after one person and one person only."

"Little girl!" Claire exclaimed. "I am no little girl, I'm sixteen years old! Almost seventeen."

"Like I said," Matt said, his eyes glowing in sarcastic humor, his cruel smirk caused a horrifying scar to pop out on his neck, from his ear, disappearing inside his shirt, "Little girl."

He seemed to catch her gawking at it because he covered it with a hand, scowled at her. "Anyone ever told you it isn't polite to stare?"

"Sorry," she said, not really meaning it. He was an ass. "ADHD."

"Whatever," he said just as harshly.

"Lay down," Claire ordered, severely annoyed. "Kayla will be in here in a few minutes. If you're still sitting up, she'll chew me out."

"Might get some entertainment then," he smirked, making no move to lay down. "I have to wait for Chiron after all."

"You know what," Claire said standing up and walking over toward him. Matt got up and easily towered over her, his large and tanned muscles flexing as if inviting her to take a swing.

"What?" he asked tauntingly.

"If you don't want to recover from getting your ass handed to you by Furies, who am I to stop you?" she asked, her face set in a serious mask, internally smirking at the expressions that came across his face.

First it was surprise, then embarrassment, and lastly anger, his brown eyes were practically glowing with rage. "I did not get my ass handed to me," he said between clenched teeth.

"News to me," she informed him, a smirk finally stretching across her face. "I do recall it was you who was on the ground with a Fury hovering over you." Secretly she was impressed with how well he'd fared with the three, not like she'd inform him of that... it was fun to watch him squirm.

"Really," he challenged. "How many monsters have you killed lately? I imagine killing two Furies is a damn good job!"

"If that's the case," she said poking him in the chest as She smirked, looking into his eyes. "Why so defensive?"

"I'm not," he said.

"You're lying," she informed him.

"Will you two shut up?" Kayla was back. "Claire, I said keep an eye on him... not a finger." Looking down she saw that she was still poking his chest. She removed her finger and looked at Kayla, ashamed.

"He started it," Claire informed her quickly, internally rolling her eyes for sounding so childish.

"Like I said," he muttered to her. "Little girl."

Resisting the urge to turn and slap him as hard as possible, I walked forward to Kayla. "I say we sedate him."

"Sedate who?" Claire heard the familiar clip clop of horse hooves.

"Matt," Claire said, turning around to look at him. "Here is Chiron."

Chiron was pretty cool. He had thinning brown hair, looked to be in his mid forties, oh and he was horse from the waist down. Matt blinked once before nodding. His face was devoid of any emotion once again as he pulled a wallet out of his back pocket. Pulling a piece of paper out, he walked over and handed it to the centuar.

Kayla backed up, Claire following suit. They wanted to get out of there quickly. It wasn't any of their business... until, "Ms. Wilson, I would like to speak to you about the sedative joke before you go."

'Damn!' Was the only thought that crossed her mind. She waved Kayla away and walked over to Chiron and Matt again. Matt was looking at her, his only sign of amusement was his raised eyebrows. The look shouted 'Mess with me!'

Her's shouted shut the hell up... but whatever.

Chiron unfolded the note and seemed to get paler and paler as he went on reading. "You must leave immediately," Chiron said.

"I know," Matt sighed.

"Claire, you too," he said as he turned around.

"What?" they both demanded.

"There's no time, for arguments, this was ordered to be kept quiet," he looked at Claire. "Hades is missing. Death has stopped. You need to find him." Looking at Matt, he said, "And if you want the job, this is my only condition: you have a partner. I'd prefer two but we haven't got the time."

Matt just nodded.

"Here's your prophecy. Already made."

Matt grabbed the paper and looked down. He nodded and said, "Let's go."

Chiron handed them both small packs that sat in the corner, waiting for quest goers. "I don't believe packing anything would be advisable... the less attention the better."

Claire managed a nod and Matt sighed. "Lets go already!"

MATT:

Great, just great! He had baggage. He didn't feel like looking after anyone. Great gods above if it wasn't for Alexandria he wouldn't be even be trying. He had to fight the subconscious urge to pull his wallet out of his pocket and look at her picture. 'Get the job done,' he urged himself. 'You can go home with the money.'

He snorted internally. Go home... to who? His sister was dead.

Claire brought him out of his reverie, as they marched down Half-Blood hill. "What does the prophecy say?"

He looked at her, fighting off the urge to glare. "Why do you care?" he demanded.

"Because I want to know what to expect," she replied evenly.

"You don't trust me?" he challenged.

"I don't know you," was her easy reply.

"That's how I want to keep it," he informed her. "I'm not here to make friends."

"That makes two of us," she informed him coldly. "Now give me the paper."

Shrugging, he said, "Fine." He held the paper out and she grasped it.

He already memorized the words anyway, he ran them over again in his head, testing his memory.

"_Head west to the land of the dead._

_Talk to Persephone but don't trust what is said._

_Meet with the lord of the Underworld_

_A Titan's plot will be unfurled_

_Watch out for the piercer's spear_

_Fore the Mercenary the end is near._

_Return what was stolen_

_And save what the thief will hold most dear."_

"Thief," Claire said. "That's a bit harsh."

"You'll be okay," he said impatiently.

He glanced over at her as they were walking, he smirked as he realized that she was visibly trying no to roll her eyes.

"Something wrong?" he asked innocently, a challenge was laced in his voice.

She smiled at him. This one made him raise his eyebrows. It was a familiar smile, the same one he'd seen on every child of Hermes he'd met and pissed off. "Not at all," she replied simply, picking up her pace as we came out of the trees and into the town.

"What now," she muttered.

"Well I walked," Matt informed her. "Though I doubt that's an ideal piece of transportation for you."

"Not at all," she said. "But I'll live. Let's go."

They'd only been walking for a few minutes when a car with music blaring loudly stopped beside us. A skinny guy with pale skin, shaved brown hair, and pale blue eyes got out.

"You need a lift?" he questioned.

He was looking at Claire, he hadn't even noticed Matt. Claire seemed to realize that, because she said. "Yeah, we do. I hope you don't mind."

He looked at Matt and his eyes narrowed. "Not at all, is he your boyfriend?"

The man looked at Claire again, his eyes were roaming around a bit too much to be casual. For some reason Matt found that a bit humorous. He smirked down at Claire and said. "Not at all. We aren't even friends."

The man looked at her with a thirsty kind of hope. Matt went out of his way to get in the back. Claire got in the front and sat down, turning around to glare at him before their driver got in, as if saying 'just wait until we get to the station.' Matt just smirked back at her.

"So," the man said, "my name is Erik by the way."

"Hey, Erik," Matt said quickly, smiling even wider. "I'm Matt, this is Claire."

"Claire," the man breathed, probably thinking it sounded alluring. "Beautiful name. Just like you."

Damn, he was desperate. Claire gave him an uneasy smile, and thanked him. "So your boyfriend let you and your... not friend, walk on a busy street alone?"

Like anything was going to happen while Matt was around. Matt rolled his eyes and leaned forward, curious to see what would happen next. Looking between the seats, he saw that the guys hand was slowly creeping to the right, toward her lap.

Claire was eying it to... nervously. It was obvious that she didn't know how to tell him 'not interested and stop being a creep!'

Matt decided to spare her. Not only that if this asshole went much further, it would be Matt's moral responsibility to break his nose.

"Look, buddy," Matt said, letting an edge of hostility enter his voice. "Leave her alone."

"What are you talking about?" Erik asked as he began pulling into the train station. "We're just talking, isn't that right, sweetheart."

Claire looked at Erik incredulously, staying silent. He parked his car and Matt didn't move, he was waiting for Claire to get out. The male's hand was getting closer to her leg. Claire pulled at the door, but it was locked. "Do you mind?" she asked hurriedly pointing toward the door.

"I'll make you a deal," he said, leaning forward. "Give me a kiss and I'll open the door."

"I'll make you a better one," Matt growled, leaning forward, grabbing a handful of his collar. "Unlock the damned door and I'll only break your nose."

Without looking away from Matt's furious glare, he felt over and unlocked Claire's door. Matt shoved him back against the door and opened his, getting out. "Thank you for the ride," he spat, slamming the door.

Erin opened his door and said, "You need to lighten up! I was just having some fun!"

"You just don't know when to stop, do you?" Matt growled, as he started to stomp forward. Something flashed out and curled around his lower arm right above his wrist.

Claire was there, her eyes were glowing in irritation. "He isn't worth it. Let him go."

Matt looked at her incredulously. "Do you hear the way this creep is talking about you?"

Erik cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted, "They're here!"

Both Matt and Claire paused as Erik got in to his car and drove off at top speed. "What the hell?" he muttered under his breath.

**This is an AU version of the sword of Hades. Very AU. It takes place maybe two weeks before a full battle esclates in Manhattan to help with the story line.**

_**echizenochi **_**was the only one to guess right about Matt's parent! Congratulations! **_**SkylarRocaineDaughterofHermes **_**already knew because she was kind enough to look my chapters over before they are put up. THANKS!**

**Question of the day: this goes to any Resident Evil fans! What character are some of Matt's traits based off of?**


	3. Getting to LA

CLAIRE:

"Let's go in," Matt said.

"What?" Claire demanded, whirling around to look straight at him. "Are you insane? Didn't you just hear what he said?"

"Yes," Matt said evenly. "We have to go either way. I know its a trap. But are you just going to wait for them?"

Before Claire could point out the considerable amounts of faulty points in his argument, he placed a hand on the small of her back and began walking, pushing her forward with him. "What's wrong?" he taunted. "You scared?"

Immediately, she stiffened and shrugged his hand off, looking at him with disgust. "Why should I be?" she demanded.

"Well," he remarked, keeping in stride with her. "You obviously can't take care of yourself. Look at that dumbass back in the car. If I hadn't have been there, who knows what would have happened!"

"I was just caught off guard," she looked down and sighed. "Never had a guy hit on me before. And never had a dad to show me what to do when it happened."

"And you can take care of yourself?" he asked, snorting.

"Shut the hell up, Matt, I survived the trip from Washington State to here, alone. My satyr, happened to die on the first leg of the journey." Shaking her head, she went silent. There was no use telling him. He didn't care, and she didn't want him to see any of her insecurities, though he seemed to do a great job finding them out for himself. "Let's just go," she snapped.

As they walked into the train station, it was busy, people were standing around talking, waiting in line to board or to buy tickets and, a few were running around looking for people. "Okay," Claire sighed. "I'll buy the tickets. Stay here," she pointed to the unoccupied bench that they were by."

"Let me," he insisted.

"Look," she snapped. "I understand you're not big on trusting people. But I'm a daughter of Hermes, this just happens to be my area of expertise."

He glared at her as she continued.

"So just sit and stay like a good braindead son of Ares."

Not sticking around to see what her impact on him was, she walked over and stood in line, wondering how well she was going to fare with him in the land of the dead... oh boy. She glanced back at him curiously, and saw that he was still sitting there, his eyes were roaming the room, they would stop on her for a moment, then they would roam the room again.

After what felt like forever, she'd managed to get the tickets and left the line to go back to Matt. "Let's go. The train leaves in five minutes."

Matt nodded and picked up both bags. Claire grabbed hers from him and walked off, knowing he would follow.

They made it in front of the train when everything went sour. She heard a slithering sound and her blood ran cold. Gulping slightly, she turned around and saw that Matt was doing the same. She saw a reptilian woman in battle armor coming directly toward then, spear in hand, not far behind her were four more all of them coming their way. "Well, Matt," Claire sighed. "Ready to get this over with?"

"Stand back," Matt replied, walking forward to meet the woman. "I've got this."

She rolled her eyes, "You're serious?"

That was when she figured out what the people saw though the mist. All she heard was, "SNAKE!" from about five different women and everyone started running to get away from the snake women. Probably a good idea.

"What do we have here?" The first woman said. "A spawn of Hermessss and Aressss. You are ssstanding in the line of progressssss for everyone. Join ussss and kill the godsssssss!"

"Not going to happen," Claire snapped, gripping her dagger's handle a bit tighter ready to swing it.

Matt looked at the snake woman and rolled his eyes. "I prefer to remain neutral."

By this time, the other four women were slowly walking (slithering?) up. Before any of them could do anything, Matt swung his sword in an arc, taking the first woman off guard, and cut her clean through the middle.

One came at Claire, swinging a sword. Yelping, she jumped out of the way. She brought her knife up and deflected the strike. Immediately, she let her instincts take over. Her foot went forward, and she kicked the snake woman in the stomach. The Dracane stumbled backward, unsteadily, knocking into the snake woman that was giving Matt a hard time. Claire took her dagger and flicked it forward, it burrowed itself in the woman's neck for a moment before she exploded into dust. That left two left, both gaining on Matt, who was skillfully deflecting their blows. Claire crept up and beheaded one while Matt slashed through the last one.

Both of them stood there for a moment breathing heavily. Just then people around them started clapping and shouting. Apparently it wasn't everyday that a crowd of people were save from hungry snakes by a couple of teenagers. Claire flashed them a smile and they both dashed toward the train at top speed, realizing that they only had three minutes left. The train started moving moments after they set foot inside. They both went to their appointed booth and sat down, Matt seemed just as okay with a four hundred yard sprint as Claire was. That kind of shocked her, considering he wasn't a child of Hermes. Then again if he lived outside of camp he was probably used to sprinting.

Claire leaned her head back on the seat and let out a quiet sigh. Not ten miles out of camp and there was already an attack.

Lazily, she rolled her head to the side and looked at Matt's expression of complete calm "Are you always this much of a monster magnet?"

He shook his head quietly, before turning away from her and looking out of the window. A few seconds of silence later, he asked, "Are you always a magnet for guys with overbearing attitudes?"

"I'm with you, aren't I?" she quipped.

He turned around and studied her for a second. She stared right back. It was like a staring contest, but his gaze was a lot more piercing than she would like, she found that she couldn't stare into it for very long.

"I'm nothing like him," Matt said coldly as she looked down.

"I know," she mumbled before biting her lower lip. She looked back up at him and saw that he was looking back outside. His back was stiff and it was obvious that she'd insulted him deeply. "Look," Claire blurted out, causing him to turn back around slowly and stare at her again. "I'm sorry, it was a joke, I didn't mean anything by it. You were a lifesaver back there. I... I'm not completely used to having, guys, watch my back. What I'm trying to say is... thanks."

Matt was silent for a moment, surprise deep in his eyes. "Whatever," he said. "It wasn't a big deal. Normally when I'm assigned a partner, I get paid more if they come back in one piece."

MATT:

He observed the way Claire's features hardened fractionally after he told her the reason for saving her. He could help the truth. He learned a long time ago that it paid off to be truthful and straight up with people. He turned away from her and looked back out of the window, feeling slightly strange. It was the first time anyone had ever thanked him, normally they were too busy gawking at his scar.

A small smile came to his face at the thought and despite his warnings not to let her make any impression on him he couldn't help but feel like she might be alright.

~SEEKINGHADES~

She never mentioned where they were stopping, heck he was pretty sure that in the three days they were on the train, she hadn't said three words to him. That was cool, it would make saying goodbye way easier if they weren't friends. Around four o'clock on their third day, they'd made it to LA. As soon as Matt made it off the train, he let out a long sigh. This was going to be fun.

"Do you know where we're going?" Claire questioned.

Matt jumped slightly. Not wanting her to see his surprise, he said, "Um... yeah. Chiron mentioned DOA stuidios."

"DOA," Claire repeated. "Doesn't that stand for 'dead on arrival?'"

Matt nodded. "Makes sense."

"Will we be able to get in?" she questioned.

"Yeah," he replied. "Percy Jackson did three years ago. Chiron told me about him... not important at the moment, though."

"How surprising. What is important then?" she asked snappishly.

He looked at her for a moment, confused. "Getting there," he responded.

"Do you know where it is exactly?" Claire questioned.

He nodded. "Yeah, I've got the street address."

"And," she pressed, making him sigh.

"And we've got a long way to go," he responded, absently rubbing the scar on his neck.

He glanced down at her and saw that she was looking at the scar curiously. As soon as she realized that he saw her, she immediately looked away and over to random a random building across the street.

He felt himself smile slightly. Apparently she remembered their first conversation. "Can we get something to eat first?" She questioned. "I know we're behind schedule, but you know as well as I do that once we get to the Underworld food is off limits and neither of us ate dinner or breakfast."

He looked at her. She wasn't pleading with him openly, but he heard the tinge of desperation in her voice. Figuring that she was right, he complied. "Fine. But someplace cheep. We still gotta hitch a ride."

"Hitching another ride," she sighed. "Fine, but this time if there is an overbearingly creeply guy in the front, we're telling him you're my boyfriend."

"Fine," he said. "Let's get something to eat first, though."

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	4. In LA

**CLAIRE:**

Ever so slowly, they walked through the busy streets, trying to dodge people that were trying to get to jobs, their rides, and Zeus knows what else. The sun was starting to get lower, but it was still excruciatingly hot, and despite her long endurance, she was already sweaty and tired. Matt seemed to be as well, his thick brown hair slightly dampened. He seemed bored as if taking her to a fast food restaurant was a big deal.

Finally, she saw a McDonald's sign. She felt like she was going to explode from happiness and both of their stomachs growled, letting them know exactly how hungry they were. Both of them walked inside, completely transfixed.

While they waited in line, Claire saw Matt staring at some of the kids playing on the playground almost longingly. They were up next. She patted him on the shoulder and gestured to the lady. "Hello, my name is Deborah, can I take your order?"

"I'll take two Big Macs a large fry and a large drink," Matt told her. Then he looked down at Claire expectantly.

"Oh," she mumbled. "I'll take a Mcnuggets combo."

Before Claire could take her money out to pay the woman, Matt already beat her to it. She frowned, not really wanting him to do anything for her. "You didn't have to do that," she informed him as they picked up their food and sat down at one of the booths.

"Is it really that much of a big deal?" he questioned.

Suddenly hit with a funny idea, she leaned forward and grabbed his much larger hand that was laying on top of the table. "Yeah," she whispered. "I might start liking you."

He looked at her with widened eyes, his cheeks seemed to pinken slightly. "We can't have that, can we?" she went on, squeezing his hand slightly before letting go and grabbing her food. "You don't wanna make friends remember?"

"Yeah," he mumbled, looking away from her. "That's right."

Claire smirked slightly, and sighed. "How old are you?"

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Why does it matter?"

"I have been stuck beside you on a bus for three days, and we're about go down to the Underworld together. I would like to know a bit about you so I'm not working with a complete stranger. Also, I'm out of camp, and I want to feel like a normal sixteen year old, eating at McDonald's with a stranger isn't normal," she shrugged.

"Claire," he said, smiling faintly. "We aren't normal."

"Humor me," she responded, nibbling on a french fry.

"Older than you," he responded, opening his burger.

She leaned back in her seat. "So you're thirty?"

"Do I look thirty?" he questioned, sounding amused.

"Maybe," she informed him.

"I'm eighteen," he said. "Anything else?"

She shrugged, "Favorite color?"

"Blue."

"Why don't you want to make friends?" she questioned finally, placing an elbow on the table to rest her head on, relishing the cool surface.

He remained silent for a moment. "I'm not a gregarious person."

"That's a pretty big word," she informed him teasingly.

"Well," he murmured softly, stirring his drink around, "I'm not braindead."

She felt a wave of guilt wash over her as she remembered their less than friendly conversation at the train station. Not sure what to say, she decided that maybe she should try and be friendly with him. He might not be so bad. "You may not be that much of a gregarious person, but I am. So why don't you let me be your friend?"

"No," he responded, hardness returning to his features. "Its better off if we just get this quest over with and go our own ways after."

"I don't think its a good idea," she responded. "I want to get to know you."

He stood up abruptly, his facial features were a mixture of anger and fear. "Don't say something you don't mean. I'm ready to go."

Claire looked down and saw that he'd barely touched his food, but before she could convince him to calm down and finish eating, he'd already picked it up and walked across the store, throwing it in the trash. She sighed quietly and threw her half eaten food away. Matt was already stalking outside as she reached the trash. Slowly, she threw her food away and followed him. He was waiting outside for her. Immediately he started walking forward, keeping at least ten feet of distance between them.

Sighing, Claire allowed him his space, aggravated about how he just kept pushing her away. All she wanted was to be his friend. There was something about him, something she couldn't describe, that called out to her softer side. It made her want to know him better, to figure out why he was so withdrawn, to help him. Sitting in her anger didn't turn out to be the wisest decision. Subconsciously, she started walking closer to Matt, going from ten feet to five almost immediately. Four feet away... three... two... one... Immediately, he whirled around and grabbed her wrist.

She tugged her arm free, glaring at him heatedly. "Is there something I can help you with?" she questioned coldly.

"No," he murmured, sounding slightly edgy.

"What the hell's wrong with you?" Claire demanded.

"Has anyone ever told you that your attitude sucks?" he asked, annoyance coated his voice.

Claire felt something close to outrage at his words. She remained silent for a moment, looking around and gathering her thoughts as they walked, trying to come up with a retort strong enough to display her annoyance with his statement. With a start, she realized that they were beside a garden of sorts, the flowers were so beautiful...

Completely ignoring the loud honking and curses of the busy streets, she started walking toward the garden, transfixed by its beauty. She faintly heard Matt's voice calling her name, she ignored him as she walked on, something pulling her forward. Walking through the long and shady trees, looking at the lilacs, tulips, roses, and thousands of other flowers, Claire stumbled upon a round clearing. She looked at it in awe, there were thousands of different species of flowers there, all surrounding a statue of a beautiful woman. She had a feeling she knew who she was.

'Περσεφόνη' was on the base of the statue, after a second it translated. 'Persephone.'

Before Claire could move again, she felt two hands around her arms at her elbows. She was pushed against a tree that was sitting on her right. The rough bark against her skin was uncomfortable, but the look on Matt's face made her want to push myself closer to the trunk, maybe even run and hide. "What the hell's wrong with you?" he growled.

"What do you mean?" Claire questioned, hating the way her voice came out in a squeak.

"You walked off, directly into a forest. We're in the middle of L.A! For the love of Ares, have some common sense! You could've gotten hurt, or worse. We're already going to Hades, there's no reason to make your stay permanent."

She was still for a moment, just looking at him, before she spoke up. "You don't care," she spat. "You probably won't get any extra for bringing me back in one piece. So if you don't mind, quit being like that!"

He let his hands fall to his sides. "Being like what, exactly?"

"Like... that," she exclaimed, wanting so badly to hit him. "You keep changing your moods! One moment you're fine, the next you act like you'd rather stab yourself than work with me for another minute!"

He was silently looking at her, curiosity burning in his eyes.

"Please," she pleaded, finishing off her rant. "Make up your mind!"

"There is nothing to make up," he informed her stiffly. "You're imagining things."

"That's a load of bull," she said venomously. "But I thought you would like to know that you can't keep pushing people away forever."

With that, she got rid of the rest of her pent up rage by pushing him aside, causing him to stumble back a few steps, and stalking back into the garden. Everything was silent for a moment even though both of them were simmering with anger. Claire admired Persephone's statue, ignoring Matt as he slowly walked around the clearing. "What are we doing here?" he asked finally breaking the silence.

"I don't know," Claire responded, her voice strained as she tried to keep her anger in check. "I felt drawn."

Matt walked over to where she was standing, and stopped maybe a foot away from her, his arms crossed. "Did you stop to think that it could have been a-"

He was cut off by vines. They literally shot out from behind the bushes, randomly out of the ground, and even from some innocent looking flowers. The green plants wrapped around both of them so fast that it took a moment for it to catch up to her. Matt and Claire both fell to the ground, and before Claire could say or do anything, darkness overtook her and she blacked out.

**MATT:**

_He and Oliver, a blonde boy with blue eyes and a cheery attitude, were sitting at his kitchen table, enjoying the AC on the scorching hot summer day. Matt tried for a smile most of the time as Oliver teased him about some nerdy girl in their class that had a crush on him. _

_He tried. His sister was on his mind. She'd fallen ill with some kind of cancer, and the only treatment was kimo therapy. The only problem was that she couldn't afford to take care of him and get the treatment. According to her, he came first, so the treatments came second. The thought of her still working as she was ill sickened him greatly, but she was already gone and he couldn't convince her to let him have a job. 'You're only twelve,' she'd say, 'be a kid!'_

_"Man," Oliver said, "did you even hear what I just said?"_

_Matt shook his head, and was about to apologize when there was a soft knock on the front door of their trailer. Sighing quietly, Matt pushed himself out of the cool kitchen chair and walked to the door. If it was their landlord, Derek, here to harass him about rent, he might just kick his ass. Wouldn't be the first time he'd tried. Oliver had always been there to hold him back._

_As he opened the door, he braced himself for getting cussed at... again. But the person out there definitely wasn't Derek. This man was blonde haired, blue eyed, and very handsome. While Derek was a greasy black haired slob. "Can I help you, sir?" Matt asked politely._

_"Um, yes. You're Matthew Andrews, right?" he asked, smiling and showing off very white teeth._

_"Yeah," Matt answered, unsure how he knew his real name. "Is there something wrong, sir?"_

_"Well yes," he sighed, straightening up his dress shirt as he talked. "I've ran into a bit of a problem. You see, people have been taking my cows out for joy rides, and have been killing them."_

_He heard footsteps behind him, turning slightly, he saw that Oliver was walking up behind him. His blonde friend looked at the man strangely before Matt answered the man, "That's awful, I'm sorry to hear that. Though I don't know how much I can help."_

_"That's it, you see," the man sighed. "You may be the only ones to be able to help."_

_"How?" Oliver challenged._

_"The people that are stealing my cows always come out at night, but I'm not sure what time. I'm afraid I'm much too busy to handle this myself, but if you help me, I'll make it worth your while."_

_Matt looked at him for a moment before nodding. "Fine. I can handle myself in a fight, and Oliver is pretty good with archery."_

_"I believe you," the man said earnestly. "Oh, and by the way, you two can call me Apollo."_

_"Alright, Apollo. When do you want us to show up?" Oliver asked._

_Apollo eyed him, an unreadable emotion in his eyes. "I would like to give you something." He turned back to Matt, "Is it okay if I come in?"_

_Matt nodded and stepped aside, letting the blonde man into the house. They all sat in the family room around a large circular wooden table. Apollo had a golden bag with him. He sat it on the table and reached inside. His hand wrapped around something bronze. It turned out to be the hilt of a large sword. "This is for you, Matthew."_

_"Please," Matt said, confused, "just call me Matt. And what is that for? I don't know how to use that thing. I'm more of a fist person."_

_Apollo smiled and said, "Don't worry, Matt. You'll find that you use this just fine." He reached into his bag again and pulled out a quiver full of bronze arrows and an old fashioned long bow. He held it out to Oliver kindly. "This is yours."_

_Oliver took it and said, "Thank you."_

_"Now listen," Apollo said, "you use these if you see the people with bronze weapons, or if they aren't people at all."_

_"You're saying that it could be people or animals?" Matt questioned._

_Apollo was silent for a moment. "You could say that. I expect you at my farm at eight. I own Sunny Farms."_

_Matt looked at him strangely while Oliver said, "Never heard of it."_

_Apollo smiled, "All you do is come out of this lot and go left... you can't miss it."_

_Matt nodded and Oliver said, "Alright."_

_Apollo smiled cheerily at them before standing up and saying, "Well, I must get going, I've got a few things to do before the day's over."_

_"Oliver," Matt said, patting his older friend on the back. "Looks like we've gotten our first job!"_

**~SEEKINGHADES~ **

When he woke up, he was on the ground, very hard ground. He heard the steady breathing of someone else beside him. That was when everything came back to him. Immediately, he jumped to his feet, pulling his sword, which was surprisingly still sheathed on his waist. He saw two large figures sitting on thrones. One was a pale and extraordinarily beautiful woman, the other was a handsome man. He had black hair, ans deep brown eyes that seemed to have a crazy edge to them. Beside him, still passed out, was Claire. She was breathing softly, completely at ease.

Slowly, he lowered his sword. There was no threat at the moment, and he figured that pointing his sword at Hades was insanely crazy. That was when it hit him. He hurriedly bowed in front of them, and said, "Um... my lord, you're supposed to be missing."

"Stand War Spawn," Hades said in a grave voice. "That was in the note that I sent Chiron. Before I go into further detail, your companion needs to wake up."

Matt nodded and knelt down. He gently shook Claire. At first there was no response, but then she started twitching, then she groaned before waking up completely. When she saw Matt kneeling above her, she blinked. "What happened?" she asked hoarsely.

"I don't really know," he murmured. "We'll find out soon enough. Get up, we don't want to be rude to the king and queen of the Underworld."

She was clearly not thinking clearly, because she said, "What?"

He gestured to Hades and Persephone. She jumped slightly and Matt held his hand out. After a moment's hesitation, she took it and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

Claire bowed to them hurriedly, and expressed her confusion at Hades' presence like Matt had. Hades heaved a great sigh as if he was tired. "Before I go any further, you have to swear on the River Styx not to divulge any information of what you are about to hear to any god, human, plant, or creature."

They both swore. Matt looked up at Hades expectantly before saying, "What can we do for you, sire?"

**Like I said completely AU. Hades is there for a reason. Review?**


	5. In Hades

**CLAIRE:**

Hades smiled at them, there was no warmth or comfort from the normally affectionate gesture. "We have been working on a new weapon for me."

"New weapon," Matt said, looking at him suspiciously. "Excuse me, lord, for asking, but isn't that illegal?"

"That is why the information doesn't leave this room," Hades replied. "Now the weapon is a sword. It was just finished in the forges, ready for me to pick up, when it was stolen."

"That's why the Fury said 'where is it!'" Matt exclaimed.

"Wait," Claire said, "why was a Fury after you?"

"They were looking at all leads for my stolen symbol of power," Hades said impatiently. "He'd recently been to the Underworld to talk to Persephone."

"So your new symbol of power was stolen," Claire said, interest in her voice.

"Yes," Persephone said, looking at Claire suspiciously. "It was. You two will be a very convenient pair."

"How?" Matt questioned.

"You will be able to sniff that weapon out like a bloodhound," Hades replied. "And the thief knows all about hideouts."

Claire had to fight off the urge to say and think some very uncomplimentary things about the lord of the Underworld. Claire managed a smile and said, "I guess we should start looking."

Hades nodded coldly, and Persephone managed a small smile. "Before you leave, take this," she threw a rose in their direction. "Its a compass rose," she said, answering our silent question. "We've managed to block off all known exits from the Underworld, but extra security only gets us so far. The petals will slowly fall off the rose the closer the thieves get to the exit. It will point you in the direction you need to go the most."

Matt and Claire bowed once more before walking out of the throne room. As they made it outside and into the Underworld, Claire shivered slightly. "Who could live here?" she demanded.

"Everyone," Matt answered, looking into the field of punishment and shuddering slightly. "Because whether you like it or not, you will end up here one day."

Claire nodded, "I know."

Matt looked around at the dark and damp world, looking from the dreary and depressing Fields of Asphodel, to the frighteningly depressing Fields of punishment, to the Elysium, to the Isles of the Blessed. He looked down at the rose he was holding. He opened his palm, and with a grimace, he realized that it was pointing in the fields of punishment.

"Damn," Claire murmured, "not my idea or a good time."

Matt looked at it as if he was trying to ward off a bad feeling. They both started in the direction that the rose was pointing. Pushing their way past the shades in the Fields of Asphodel, which seemed to go on forever, she began to already break out in a sweat. It was warm.

Finally, they made it to the edge of the field, and saw lava streaking down the ground in streams. Hesitantly, she jumped over the hot liquid rock, hearing Matt's feet hit the ground beside her. The lighting came from the fires that were either burning people alive or fueling the torments. Claire walked slowly on the path, feeling the fiery heat coming from all around. She was sweating buckets, and she looked over at Matt, who seemed to be completely calm and collected. Deciding that she couldn't stand walking around in silence, she looked at Matt, remembering what he'd said to the Dracane four days previously, and decided to strike up a conversation. "What did you mean by staying neutral?"

He looked over (and down) at her uncomprehendingly, "Hmm?"

"When we were at the station, you said that you prefer to remain neutral," she clarified. "Were you serious?"

"Oh, that," Matt said. "Yeah. I was serious. I don't like getting into conflicts."

"You get into conflicts all the time," Claire pointed out. "Look what you're doing now. You're helping the gods out. Doesn't that put you on their side?"

Matt shrugged. "No, I don't get emotionally involved. I don't ask questions about motives, or morals. I only ask about how much money."

"So you're saying that you'd sooner steal the sword than get it back," Claire questioned.

"If they would have paid me enough," he replied.

"If they offered you enough money, would you turn against me?" Claire questioned, feeling uneasy and distrust.

Matt stiffened and whirled around to look at her, grabbing her by her shoulder, firm enough to keep her in place, but not enough to hurt her. "Let's get one thing straight: once I start a job, I finish it." He growled, "I won't betray you."

Claire looked into his eyes and saw anger splayed across them. She'd deeply insulted him. Not knowing why she did it, she placed a hand above his on her shoulder and said, "I believe you." And she did. Call it a leap of blind faith, but there wasn't a doubt in her about where he allegiance lied at the moment.

They stood there for a moment before Matt adverted his eyes, a red tint on his cheeks. He looked out at the punishment fields. "You do understand what I am, right?" he questioned.

She looked at him for a moment, and realized that he wouldn't look into her eyes. When she didn't answer, he just continued, "I'm no one you need to get close to. I'm not a good friend for you."

"I don't..." she trailed off as she saw the self loathing in his eyes.

"Just trust me, I'm no good, and better off alone." He began walking again, "Let's just go, the sooner we get out of here the better."

Hesitantly, she followed him. They trekked through what felt like miles of the burning fields in a heavy silence. Matt's shoulders were tensed the whole way as if he was worried about them drooping if he relaxed. Gods, Claire was confused.

The first thing that made us stop was a slamming sound, followed by curses, Claire picked up some Greek, Latin, French, and a few she hadn't had the privilege of learning yet. "I have a feeling I know who this is," she groaned.

"They went in this direction," he sighed. "Maybe we should question him."

Well Matt's first words in the three hours might not have rang with friendliness, but it was a good start. Claire nodded as she looked down at the rose that he had opened in his hand, it was indeed pointing toward the bang that we'd heard earlier. As if getting a point across about who was in charge, the first petal started shrivelling up and then fell to the ground. She and Matt both looked at it, a feeling of panic filled her. They needed to hurry.

As if making a silent agreement, they both started walking up the hill, dodging lava pits while they went. The heat was getting to Claire, she felt sweat droplets running down her face and back. She kept quiet, though, knowing that Matt had the same problem. When they made it to the top of the hill, Claire looked at the man that was there in distaste.

He had orangey skin, worse than the fake tans seen on most preppy girls. He had a large pot belly, which was completely out in the open for the world to see, tiny legs and small arms, his hair was white and sticking up in every direction like a burning torch. The only thing that was covering him was a filthy loincloth around his waist, it was on him like a diaper. Needless to say, he wasn't a pretty sight. To top it all off, he sounded pissed. He was cursing at boulder twice the size of him, kicking it every few seconds, as if it was going to listen to him after its thorough scolding.

"I won't, do it again!" he roared, before starting a stream of curses that wove into so many languages, that Claire didn't know when she stopped understanding and started using her imagination. She saw Matt staring at him wide eyed.

"I thought I knew a lot of swear words," he murmured.

"You can understand this?" Claire asked.

Matt nodded. "My employers don't always speak English, you know."

She nodded absently, and sighed heavily. "Ready to go and say hello?"

**MATT:**

As he walked toward the man he knew as Sisyphus, he couldn't help but take a side glance at Claire. She really thought that he would turn on her? He wasn't that kind of guy, he had his scar to prove it. As much as it hurt his ego, the let it slide, he knew he wasn't a good person, and he knew he would be going straight to the Fields of Punishment when he died.

The thought saddened him, so he shoved it out of his head and focused his attention on the man that was now standing in front of him. "Sisyphus?" he asked.

The man jumped slightly. As soon as he saw them, he jumped and yelled, trying to run, but after going about ten feet, he was stopped, his bare back arched and he fell to the ground. It looked almost as if he was held back by an invisible leash. "No, no," he screamed, his voice sounding a little crazed. "No Furies go away! You can't trick me in your disguises!"

"Furies?" Matt questioned. "We aren't furies! We're just looking for a group-"

"Na, na, na, la, la, la, I can't hear you!" he screamed.

Matt felt his eye twitch from irritation. He brought his hand to the old man's neck and slamming him into the boulder. Almost immediately he had to fight off the urge to recoil in disgust.

His skin was slick and slimy from sweat and dirt. "Listen old man, I-"

There was a hand on his shoulder, and a voice in his ear, "Put him down," it was Claire.

Matt reluctantly put the senile old man down and backed up, glaring. "I'll make you a deal," Claire said, her voice turning much softer, kinder, and sweeter as she talked to the older man. "If we try to put the boulder at the top of the hill, will you talk to us?"

The man looked at Claire, and it seemed as though it was going to work. That was until he screamed, "No! You're Furies you're gonna punish me some more! Go away!"

"For the love of Ares," Matt said, quickly loosing his already paper thin patience, "we aren't Furies, damn it!"

Sisyphus reached out and pinched Matt's nose. Immediately Matt swatted his hand away and reached for his sword, dead set on running the moron through with it. Claire's fingers latched around his right wrist, he could have easily broken her grip, but he just sighed, getting her message.

"You aren't Furies," he agreed, as if pinching Matt's nose was the ultimate test.

"No, we aren't," Claire agreed gently. "If I move the boulder up hill for you, would you be willing to talk to him?"

"You... you'll move the rock for me?" he asked, sounding excited.

Claire nodded, she walked over to the rock, about to start pushing it, when Matt gripped her wrist. "Let me move the rock. You talk to him."

It made sense. She was a daughter of Hermes, very persuasive. He was a son of Ares, much stronger.

Claire looked at him for a moment before saying, "Diplomacy isn't one of my strong suits. And this guy freaks me out."

Matt looked at her uneasily, and Claire grinned at him, "Besides, he must like you more than me. You guys just can't seem to keep your hands off each other."

Matt stood there for a moment blinking and blushing furiously, as Claire started pushing the boulder toward the hill. "Don't get crushed," he advised her before turning around and looking at the disgusting old man.

"So nice of you to offer to push my rock for me," he said, his voice held a hint of being unhinged at the mind. "The others didn't offer to push it. They just shoved a sword at my throat... a very strange sword... it had a bronze key at the end of it."

"Who?" Matt demanded, realizing that his voice was a bit too sharp.

Sisyphus started stepping backward. He tried to make his voice calm and soothing like Claire's, "Hey, I'm sorry."

Sisyphus shook his head and let out a strangled, "NO!"

Hit with a sudden wave of aggravation, he jumped forward and tackled the older man to the ground. Easily subduing him, he growled, "Tell me who the hell you talked to!"

"I don't know their names!" Sisyphus wailed.

"Then what did they look like!" he demanded.

"He was an angry young man," Sisyphus said slowly, trembling under the harsh stare that Matt sent his way. "He had a mouth, a nose, one eye..."

Matt stiffened, "One eye?" he questioned.

"Maybe," Sisyphus said. "He also had hair on his head."

Matt almost facepalmed. "Did he have an eyepatch on?"

Once again, he was answered with a, "Maybe."

Matt got off of Sisyphus so the old man could get to his feet. "What did you tell him?"

Before Sisyphus answered, he casted a glance toward Claire, who was almost at the top. Even as far away from him as she was, he saw a sheen of sweat coating her forehead. Swallowing his guilty feeling, he looked back at Sisyphus, waiting for his answer.

"I can't remember," Sisyphus sighed carelessly. He was obviously lying.

Matt was not in the mood for games. His next course of action proved it. He lunged forward and grabbed Sisyphus by his hair, and pulled him forward. He unsheathed his sword, and held it to the old man's arm. "Tell me, do you know how hard it is to push something that heavy," he gestured to the boulder, "with one arm?"

Sisyphus shook his head vigorously, but remained silent, the only thing that could be heard was the soft whimpering sound coming from the back of his throat.

"Its not easy. Trust me, I've done it," Matt informed him truthfully. "Now unless you'd like to find out," he pressed the sword a bit firmer to the man's filthy flesh, further emphasizing his point, "tell me what you said!"

"Melinoe!" he yelped, the color gone from his face. "I told them to go to Melinoe! Please, just leave me with my arm!"

Before Matt could threaten him anymore, he heard Claire shout, "Watch out!"

Matt looked up and saw that Claire was at the top of the hill, she looked as though she was about to collapse from exhaustion. He wasn't able to focus on that though, he had to jump out of the way, because the boulder was racing toward them. When Matt hit the dirt and rolled to his feet, he whirled around and saw that Sisyphus was still standing in the deadly path of the boulder.

He was about to yell, 'Watch out!' when the boulder hit. Sisyphus braced himself for the impact. He managed to stop himself from going much farther back than a few feet. When the boulder was still, Matt saw Claire tiredly make her way down the hill. She slowly walked over and stood beside him, so warm that he could feel the heat radiating off her skin.

"No," Sisyphus wailed, "take it again! Its not fair, take it away!"

Claire opened her mouth, but Matt beat her to the punch. "No, you cheated death, this is your fault! Deal with the punishment on your own!"

Sisyphus looked down at Matt's hand. "What's the rose for? Back in my time, flowers were for women. Has the outside world changed that much?"

Matt blinked. Sisyphus had gone from wailing to conversational in a matter of two point eight seconds. "Its to find the thief," Claire said, still pretty much breathless.

"One of Persephone's tracking devices," Sisyphus mused. "I tricked her, you know, I tricked them all!"

"Yeah," Matt sighed. "I know." He turned to Claire. "Let's go."

"Did you get-"

She was cut off by a string of curses from Sisyphus. "Curse you! I'll never help you! You'll leave me to move boulders by myself! Go to Hades!"

"Already there," Matt muttered, feeling a pain between his eyes... gods it was an incoming headache. That was all he needed.

They walked away from the old man and his boulder. Hearing, "Alright, I'll do it again, but this is the last time!" as they did so.

When Sisyphus was out of sight and hearing range, Matt stopped. Claire was obviously tired, and needed a rest. There was a rock in the middle of a small circle of black rock, surrounded by lava pits. He gestured for her to sit on the rock, so she could rest.

She shook her head, breathing deeply, as if trying to hide the obvious signs of exhaustion that were right in front of him. "We need to keep going."

"You need to rest for a moment," Matt said. "I shouldn't have let you take that rock, it was too heavy for you."

She glared at him. "I'm fine! Are you insinuating that I'm weak? But then again, why does it matter to you? Last time I checked, you don't care!"

Matt felt the last drop of his control and patience slip. "What I'm insinuating," he said through clenched teeth, "is that you need to rest. Now sit down on the damned rock and take a breather, or I will knock you out and make you rest!"

Claire didn't budge, she narrowed her eyes at him and growled, "Was that a threat, Andrews?"

"No," he replied, putting the same amount of venom in his voice that he reserved solely for the people he was highered to hunt down. "It was a promise."

"Then, please," she said cocking her head to the side, eyebrows raised, "go through with your promise."

Matt walked forward, completely losing his cool. He grabbed onto her arms by the elbows firmly enough to steer her backward, but not enough to hurt her. When he got to the rock, he lifted her up and sat her down on it. He leaned a bit closer to her so that he was looking her right in her exhausted eyes. "I am trying to be the nice guy," he informed her quietly. "You're making it hard. You are my partner, and whether you like it or not, I have your back."

Claire looked him in the eyes and sighed. She dropped her head so that forehead was resting awkwardly on his shoulder. "I am... pretty tired," she admitted weakly.

Matt felt his cheeks warm at the alien surge of affection that he was starting to feel for her. Every time she would do something so simple as pat his hand, he would feel a warmth, it didn't feel normal, but he couldn't bring himself to mind it, much to his dismay. "Just rest for a moment," he said quietly.

**Review, please :/ I need inspiration! Also would anyone protest to me adding Kayla, daughter of Apollo and Mark, son of Ares to this fic?**


	6. Keres

CLAIRE:

She had no idea how long she'd sat with her head resting on Matt's shoulder, and she didn't care. She was comfortable. When she felt as though she was going to doze off, she tensed up and forced her eyes open. "Matt," she mumbled drowsily, "if I don't move now, I'm going to fall asleep."

Matt jumped slightly at the unexpected noise. "Alright," he sighed. "Let's go."

He jumped to his feet and she saw two shriveled petals on the ground. Feeling a surge of annoyance, she said, "We should have went when the first petal fell off."

Matt shrugged at her scoldings. "You're no good to anyone exhausted. We would have been moving slower, and if we ran into trouble, you wouldn't be able to defend yourself. That could have gotten both of us killed."

She saw the sense of his reasoning, but that didn't mean that he had to admit it. She was silent for a moment, cracking her back and neck. He offered her his hand, she took it and he pulled her off of the rock. "Let's go," she said, as he let go of her hand. She dropped it awkwardly to her side.

Matt wouldn't look at her directly when he nodded. "Yeah... come on."

They walked on, and Claire vaguely noticed that the torturers must have gotten their favorite song going: the screams. Some were so loud and high pitched that her ears started throbbing. She saw after a particularly high pitched one that Matt was affected too. He winced and rubbed his left ear.

"Are we still going the right way?" Claire asked.

Matt paused and opened his palm where he was holding the rose. She noticed that there were parts of his hand were pink where the thorns had started aggravating his flesh, a few of them were even starting to bleed. The head of the rose was still pointing in the same direction. "Yeah," he sighed.

"Matt," she said softly, "why don't you let me hold the rose? You're hurting your sword hand."

"I'm fine," he said giving her a look that resembled confusion.

She gave him a half smile and said, "Come on, you and I both know you'll probably have to fight in the near future. No need to hurt yourself."

He looked at her and gave her a smile, a real smile. "I'm fine, Claire, really."

She bit her bottom lip, debating on arguing again. "Come on," Matt said, placing his palm on the small of her back again and pushing her forward. This time, though, she didn't shrug him off.

They may have been trekking the heated rocks for another three hours or so, both of them boarder line exhausted. Even a daughter of Hermes had her limits. Claire knew that Matt was worse off than her. He hadn't really rested when she had the last time, but she also knew that his pride was what was stopping him from calling a break. As much as she hated to call him out on it, the last thing either of them needed or wanted was him collapsing.

They were beside what seemed to be cabins... they were quite small, Claire was willing to bet that they were torture rooms for misanthropists, and people with severe claustrophobia. Stick six people in per room in the small cabin, it was send them into panic attacks.

Cursing her ADHD mind, she tried to focus yet again on the job. Matt had dropped his hand from her back an hour or so before, first sign that he was getting tired. His movements were getting sluggish, and his breathing had a slightly labored sound to it. "Matt," she said, breaking their three hour long silence. "We need a break."

"There's no time," he replied, gesturing to the rose. It was missing half of its petals.

Claire brought her hand up to his forehead. He flinched from the unexpected contact, but she just ignored it. He was burning up behind the sweat that was dripping off his forehead. He grabbed her hand and gently moved it off his face. "I'm fine, I promise. "

"You're no good to anyone tired," she insisted. "You haven't rested yet. Let me look after you for once. You can trust me, I have your back."

He didn't respond, he just looked away from her and out in the distance where their destination most likely was. Before Claire could try to coax him into taking a short breather, she heard wings flapping. Her head snapped in the direction of the noise.

Six or seven winged creatures were slowly flapping toward them. They had shriveled faces like a pug, claws instead of hands and feet, and Claire wasn't exactly the most beautiful thing walking, but compared to them, she felt like a super model. Claire remembered them from monster fighting class.

"Keres," she breathed. "Not good."

"We're on a mission for Lord Hades," Matt said loudly to them. "Go now."

They looked at him unimpressed. The one at the front said, "Hades shall soon fall! The Piercer shall rule! He will give us more freedom!"

The Piercer... Claire remembered hearing that name somewhere, and she remembered that whoever it was only meant them harm.

Before Matt could reply to the kere, she swooped down toward them. Immediately, they both ducked, Claire felt her hair move from the wind that she'd caused. "Don't let them scratch you!" she shouted to Matt, remembering the deadly consequences.

"Wasn't planning on it!" he shouted, swinging his sword in a large ark, catching her in the torso. With a wail, she exploded, coating him in monster dust. Her friends shrieked in rage at her demise and all of winged hags dove at them. It was pure chaos. Claire yelped slightly and rolled out of the path of two particularly sharp looking claws. Landing on her feet with surprising (to her) grace, she slashed her knife, causing one to disintegrate with a shriek. The other one swung her claw forward, Claire, stepsided the blow and gripped its wrist, pulling it forward and slinging it onto the ground. She stabbed it in the chest. She heard the sound of wings coming from behind her, not pausing, she rolled out of the swooping monster's path and came up to her feet beside an exhausted looking Matt. Only half of her racing mind was concentrated on warding off the pug faced keres' attack, the other half noticed that Matt wasn't gripping his sword like he normally did, it was too weak. And his movements were sluggish, way too sluggish.

There were only three left, she and Stood back to back as the remaining monsters crept toward them, cackling in their 'victory.' Matt and Claire both jumped toward their nearest attackers, taking them both out by sheer surprise. There was one last kere left, she was apparently smarter than her companions, she'd managed to see through their surprise attack and darted toward the nearest target... Claire. Claire didn't see it coming. She turned around as she finished turning the other kere into dust, she saw the monsters claws sticking out, as of anticipating ripping her to shreads. She just stood there dumbly, staring at them, waiting for her demise to come. Before the kere could get her, she was knocked to the side. She hit the hard and hot ground with a 'oomph.' She felt the small stones stick into her arms uncomfortably. Immediately she scrambled to her feet, but the monster was no longer there. I was just her and Matt... Matt!

She looked down at him, he was lying in a ball beside her, clutching his shoulder in what was undisguised agony. In a panic, Claire dropped to her knees and called his name, "Matt!"

He was trembling and he cried out in pain. She made him move his hand, which was covering his shoulder, hoping against hope that he'd broken it or scratched it on a rock. The wound was obvious, five deep gashes through his shoulder, bleeding profusely. The skin around the wound was already turning a pale shade of green, indicating that it was poisoned.

"We can't stay out here," she said hurriedly, not even sure if he was able to register her words.

The cabins! Not knowing what else to do, she prayed to Ares for the strength to support his son's weight. I leaned over and said in his ear, "Come on, Matt we need to get to cover before the Keres come back."

Matt managed a stiff nod, but she wasn't even sure if he was nodding or just trembling.

"I'm going to help you up, you can lean against me, we're going into the cabin," she said slowly.

He nodded again... he understood her. Claire managed to get her arm around the small of his back with quite a bit of effort. She got to her feet and helped pull him up. He leaned heavily against her, his head resting sideways across her shoulder, up to the crook of her neck. She wrapped both of her arms awkwardly around his waist, linking them together on the other side, pressing him as tightly as possible against her hip. They shuffled awkwardly toward the cabin, considering the fact that he was a good seven inches taller, much heavier, and was stumbling around worse than a drunk.

After what felt like hours (in reality five minutes), they made it to the nearest cabin. She tried the door, and realized that it was locked. She couldn't set Matt down, if she did, she knew that she'd never be able to get the semi conscious son of Ares back off the ground. Letting loose a stream of swear words that would have made Sisyphus proud, she placed her hand over the lock, hopefully she would be able to do what Luke did for her when she'd just gotten to camp. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the lock. She smiled in satisfaction as she heard a click.

Immediately she threw the door opened and desperately tugged Matt inside the shed. He was visibly weakening, his legs didn't seem to respond to him anymore, the were just dragging along. She scanned the room, looking for any danger. Finding none, she dragged him further inside, the only light source of the windowless shack was the fires that were burning outside and coming from the open door. She set him down on the ground and walked back to the door. She knew that they couldn't keep the door open because the demonic pugs could come back.

The convenience of everything was starting to get to her. There was a light switch on the wall by the doorway. Any other day, she might have questioned the convenience, but that day she was much to desperate to care. She flicked the switch and slammed the door shut. A couple seconds later a dim bulb flickered on, showing that they were in a storage shed, tools were hanging on the walls in a very neat fashion. She didn't even give any of it a second glance, she simply ran over to Matt and pulled the pack off her back. She fumbled with the zipper, stumbling over herself, trying to get the medical supplies out.

As she pulled out the ambrosia, nectar, and bandages, Matt seemed to become a bit more lucid. He was laying on his back, but his eyes followed her every movement. She looked at his shoulder, and gently peeled back the shirt so she could get a better look. What she saw made her grimace. "That look makes me nervous," Matt managed to wheeze in a weak voice.

"What look?" Claire questioned, trying and failing to wipe the worried and pained expression that was painted all over her face.

"That one you're trying to hide," he breathed, sighing as she poured a few drops of nectar on to his shoulder.

"I'm not trying to hide anything she replied, hating how the tremor in her voice betrayed her. "You're going to be fine," she said, trying to assure him despite what she learned back at camp.

"Don't lie," Matt replied.

"Matt-"

"Claire," Matt cut her off. "I know what Keres are."

Claire felt herself starting to shake, feeling absolutely terrified and helpless. Matt sounded as though he'd already given up. That thought made her angry. "Don't you dare give up on me now," she growled, starting to wrap his shoulder. "You told me that you'd have my back, how is that possible if you're dead? And you have a job to finish, Matt. You always see your job finished. You're gonna be fine. You have to be."

"But-" he protested weakly

Claire took in a shaky breath as she pulled more gauze out the medical kit from her bag. "Shut up," she instructed, "I said you're going to be fine. You're gonna be fine damn it!"

Matt fell silent, as she finished tending to his shoulder.

MATT:

He'd lapsed into silence as she doctored his lethal wounds. It was almost as if he could feel the disease caused by the kere's claws. He grimaced at the thought. Turning his head slightly, and ignoring the dizziness and pain the simple movement caused, he looked up at Claire. He had never felt such a strong surge of confusion in his life as he did from this girl. He had willingly signed his own painful death certificate just to save her. Since when was he so selfless?

'_She saved your life_,' a voice in his head reasoned, '_you were just repaying the favor.'_

It made no sense, he was still in an unbelievable amount of pain, barely tolerable enough to keep quietly, and he still couldn't bring himself to regret his actions. The very thought of the roles being reversed, and Claire being the one with the fatal poison in her system, made him cringe.

A tingling sensation through his scalp made him snap out of his reverie. Claire was finished with his shoulder, she had already packed up, and she was sitting there, running her fingers through his hair. "You need to get some rest," she instructed.

"There's no time," he said, his voice much stronger.

She showed him the rose, which had six petals on it. Sure they looked a bit worse for wear, but he was just greatful that it was in one piece. "Half of the rose is still in tact. We're gonna lose time if you don't take half an hour and lay your head down," she said calmly, but the tone of voice called for no arguments.

Matt sighed, and did something that he hadn't done since he was twelve: gave in to someone else's demands and went against his mercenary training. He flipped himself over so that he was on his back, and he had to fight back a groan as the nausea took him over. Claire scooter closer to him and lifted his head lightly. Before he could ask what she was doing, she had laid his head back down, except he was on something much softer and warmer than the cold metal ground of the shack. He opened his eyes for a moment, and realized that he was staring at Claire. He tossed her a half smile/grimace as he realized that his head was lying in her lap.

Yet again, it was much to his dismay that he couldn't bring himself to mind. In a few short minutes, he'd dozed off, dreaming memories all over again...

_He and Oliver had been 'Official Mercenaries' for three years. He was fifteen, and life was actually looking up. He and his sister had finally moved out of that filthy trailer park, and away from Derek (not before Matt had managed to kick his ass). He'd gotten enough money to pay for just about anything that his sister wanted, including her cancer treatments. He had just gotten back from a job for his own father. He had cursed an insane demigod who was plotting to take over Africa. The whole continent, so that demigods could 'live freely, without interference.' It had been an execution mission. Everything went without a hitch, and he was sixty thousand richer for it. It still left a bad taste in his mouth, it wasn't the first time he'd killed, but it was the first time he'd gone into a mission knowing that the target was ment to be taken out. Naturally the pay had been higher, but he couldn't bring himself to care. The only thing that cheered him up even a little was that he'd killed one guilty psychopath and saved numerous innocent lives._

_His sister had no idea what he was, he never told her the exact details of what he did, all he said was that he had an easy job that paid a lot of money. Whenever she would ask about it, he would tell her that he couldn't tell her. _

_It was the first time that he'd been away from home for more than just a night... a lot more. He'd been gone for over a month. He had to go to south Africa, find the demigod, who was operating in a warehouse, and kill him. He looked a bit worse for wear when he got back. His father had transported him home with the sixty thousand._

_He took a deep breath and opened the door, he knew that Alexandria was going to flip when she saw him. He prayed that she would at least let him take a nap before bearing down on him too hard. He stepped into the hallway, enjoying the way the cool air hit his skin. He breathed in a sigh of relief and walked cautiously to the living room. Alexandria was sitting there on the couch, her knees pulled up to her chest with her chin sitting on top. He made sure that she would be able to hear his normally quiet footsteps as he walked in. When she looked up and saw him slowly walking through the room over to her, she jumped. "Matt!"_

_"Hey Alex," he said trying for a grin._

_She jumped up and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. He winced slightly from the pressure, there were still freely bleeding wounds on his torso that he needed to tend to before she noticed them... too late._

_"Where have you been?" she demanded after she released him from her painful death grip._

_"On a job," he said, not wanting to lie to her._

_"You look awful," she said, trailing off as she took in his appearance. She was silent until she got to the rapidly growing bloodstains on his shirt. Immediately she pulled his shirt up to reveal a freely bleeding sword gash._

_After that it was all hysterics. She was raving, demanding to know what happened, where he was, and why his job caused him to come home in the condition that he was in._

_He didn't answer right away. He ran upstairs and grabbed a bag of ambrosia. Pulling out a square, he ate it, relishing in the taste of his mother's brownies. He ran back downstairs after changing his shirt and grabbing his weapon. That was the day he told her everything. That was the day that she told him that she forbade him going out on anymore jobs. That was the day when she started getting worse._

**~SEEKINGHADES~**

He woke to someone shaking his shoulder gently. His eyes opened and he saw Claire right above him like she was when he fell asleep. "We need to get moving," she informed him.

**Please review and tell me what you think. Because despite what you think this fic is far from over and I still need inspiration! Mark and Kayla will be making their appearance in the next one or two chapters.**


	7. New Companions

**CLAIRE:**

Matt looked at her for a moment, that same confused light in his eyes. Claire smiled kindly at him and said, "We've still got a while to go."

She held out her hand and he took it with his good one. She helped pull him to his feet and before she could stop herself, she threw her arms around him. He stiffened up, and for a second she was afraid that he was going to push her away, instead, he pulled her closer, holding her tightly. "You saved my life," she mumbled into his chest.

"You kind of returned the favor," he said, his voice oddly gentle. "If it weren't for you I wouldn't be standing here. I still owe you my life."

"I'm sorry that I froze," she gushed. "I should have known what to do!"

"Shh," he whispered, holding her closer still. "Everything's fine. You were just startled."

"But now you're hurt," she said shakily. "What if something happens to you because of it? I don't think I could live with myself."

"Hey," he whispered, leaning down so he was talking softly into her ear. "I saved you because I wanted to, not because I had to. If something happens, its my fault completely. I can tell you right now, I don't regret it. I never will. You're the first person in a long time that truly gave a damn about me... thank you."

Not knowing how to respond, she squeezed him one last time, forcing the tears that were on the brink of spilling over back. She pulled away from him and said, "We should probably get going."

The look on Matt's face was soft as he looked at her, but as soon as she mentioned the quest, his face turned serious, and emotionless. "Yeah, lets get this over with."

**~SEEKINGHADES~**

The walk was a tense one. Despite Matt's wounds, he was ushering them forward at a breakneck pace, trying to reach Melinoe's cave before the demigods got out. They were much too nervous to allow themselves to stay in silence. Claire was the first one to cave, "Do you know what would have taken them so long to get to the cave."

"I don't know," Matt admitted. "I was wondering the same thing, there're still five petals on the rose."

"Could it have something to do with the Piercer?" Claire asked.

"Do you know who that is?" Matt asked, glancing at her worriedly.

"The title sounds familiar," she admitted, "but I can't remember. Judging from the look on your face, I would say that you know."

"I do know," Matt said. "If he has anything to do with this, we're in trouble."

"Care to elaborate?" Claire questioned.

Matt sighed and said, "Iapetus, that's his name, which literally translates into 'The Piercer.' because that was what he liked to do with his enemies. He was thrown into Tartarus with Kronos at the end of the Titan war."

"If he's in Tartarus, why would the Keres be talking about him?" Claire asked, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"It's a key," he murmured...

"What?" Claire asked.

"The Keys of Hades," Matt elaborated. "The legends say that Hades had a set of keys that could lock and unlock death. Sisyphus told me that the sword had a key on the end."

"Do you believe in the legends?" she asked, secretly hoping that he would assure that it was a lie.

"I don't see why it wouldn't be true," he shrugged. "Every other legend was true."

"If the key is in the sword. That means the wielder would have the power to raise the dead," Claire said. "Do you think-"

"The sword would be able to revive the damned," Matt finished her question for her.

She looked at him with wide eyes, waiting for her answer.

He was silent for a few seconds, obviously collecting his thoughts. "There's not proof that I can think of pointing either way," he managed a sarcastic smile in her direction, "but with the way our luck has been for the past week, I wouldn't doubt it."

"I don't think you could handle him," she mumbled.

He looked down at her with a raised eyebrow.

She stumbled over herself trying to clarify what she meant. "I... I mean that you're hurt and he's a titan! I didn't mean..."

She trailed off at the sound of Matt laughing. It was a strangely nice noise, one that she probably wouldn't hear again. "Don't hurt yourself, Claire," he sighed. "I know what you meant."

"Do you think you could take him?" Claire asked, trying and probably failing to conceal fear from her voice.

Apparently obviously failing. "Don't worry about me," he said gently. "Arrogance is a trait of children if Ares, I'm no exception. So, yes, I imagine that I could take him. I'm not stupid, though. I know I'm hurt."

"I just don't want anything to happen to you," she confessed, feeling silly.

"We'll get out of this," he said, placing a comforting arm around her shoulder and pulling her toward him. "I promise."

She bit her bottom lip for a moment before nodding. She was about to inform him that he'd better make it, when she heard her name being called.

"CLAIRE!"

She froze, recognizing the voice. She slowly turned around, two people were running up toward them, Kayla, daughter of Apollo, and Matt's half brother, Mark. As soon as Kayla got close enough, Claire embraced her best friend in a tight hug. "What the hell are you doing here?" Claire demanded.

"A daughter of Persephone told us to go into the Hades cabin," Mark answered quietly, eying Matt curiously. "Persephone and Hades were visible on an IM. They asked if we could efficiently work with you and him," he gestured to Matt, "we both said we could. Next thing we know, we're falling through a huge hole in the ground. We literally just got here three seconds ago."

"Did they tell you why you're here?" Matt questioned.

"They said something about retrieving a stolen sword," Kayla replied. "Hades said that you're hurt, and that you both needed some extra help."

"He wasn't lying by any means," Claire said, feeling slightly relieved.

Kayla got a look on her face that spelled 'medic'. "Where and how are you hurt?"

"There's no time," Matt snapped, taking a half step back.

Kayla looked as though she was going to protest, but Mark set a hand on her shoulder. "He's right. Mission first."

Matt gave Mark an appreciative nod and the four of them set off.

**MATT:**

The dream he had was making him visit some very unwanted memories, and since he wasn't really comfortable enough to strike up a conversation with Mark and Kayla around, he was forced to remain silent, movies of what he'd experienced in his head...

**~SEEKINGHADES~**

_He shouldn't have listened to her, he should have snuck out, disobeyed, or just walked out the door. He didn't. So there he was at sixteen completely alone. He leaned over his sister's tombstone on his knees, wondering why he stopped going out to make the money. She was dead and it was all because he didn't care enough to not listen. Uncertainty created havoc all throughout his mind. He didn't know what he was going to do, or where he was going to go. All he knew was that he would he damned if he was going to go into an orphanage._

_Placing a hand over the freshly dug earth where they'd laid his sister to rest the day before, he closed his eyes and whispered, "I am so sorry, I failed you."_

_Something warm and wet trailed its way down his cheek. Furiously, he wiped the tear away, hating himself for being so weak. It was something that he'd been trained not to show._

_He heard the sound of footsteps, and turned around. With a mild feeling of shock, he saw his blonde friend, Oliver. He hadn't seen him since he'd been forced to quit._

_Oliver wasn't alone. There was a pale girl with almost black eyes and black hair, and a boy with black hair and coffee brown eyes. He was the only one to speak. "I'm sorry to hear about Alexandria," he murmured, walking over to him and embraced him. When he pulled away, Oliver looked at the grave marker. "I regret not making it to the funeral."_

"_I understand," Matt muttered. "You're a busy person."_

_"That's no excuse," he sighed. "She was like a sister to me. Just like you're like a brother to me."_

_Matt spared a glance to his companions. "Why are you here? I have a feeling it wasn't just to express sympathy."_

_Oliver was silent for a moment, still looking at Alexandria's grave. "You're right, as usual," he replied, not looking at him. "It isn't the same without you," he looked up at Matt. "I miss you having my back, man."_

_Matt managed a half smile. "Yeah. The quiet life is a bit boring. But I did it for her," he replied._

_"I know," he said. "Its what you get for going on a mission without me."_

_"Yeah," he sighed. "I learned my lesson."_

_"Why don't you join us?" Oliver asked abruptly. "Fight for Kronos, after all you did for the gods, they could have cured her for you. They didn't they just let her die. They don't care. Look at what Apollo did to me when we were twelve, looked me dead in the eyes and talked to me, he didn't even bother to inform me that I was his son!"_

_"Oliver," Matt said softly. "You know my one rule. I don't get involved emotionally. I don't choose sides."_

_"Look," Oliver said, desperation colored his voice. "Mercenaries are seen as liabilities... highly trained liabilities. They're being rounded up and offered a place in the army. If they refuse..." he trailed off, apparently reluctant to finish._

_"You're here to recruit me," Matt said quietly. He glanced at the other two people in the graveyard. "And if I refuse? Would you really kill me?"_

_"I won't have a choice," he snapped. "Don't you see, you don't have the option of remaining neutral!"_

_"I'm not getting involved," Matt said dangerously. "Not now."_

_"Matt-"_

_"Is that why you joined," he asked, contempt in his voice. "You were threatened."_

_"No," Oliver snapped, his eyebrows furrowed. "I volunteered. The gods need to go and rot in Tartarus!"_

_Matt was taken aback by the venom in his voice. "You seem to feel pretty strongly about this. I'm not going to stop you from doing what you feel is right. My question is: what kind of righteous organization makes you kill your own friend if they refuse to swear allegiance because I might do something? Matt pulled his sword out of its sheath, causing Oliver to flinch, tense up and draw his own weapon. Attacking his friend was the last thing on Matt's mind. He threw his sword on the ground and glared back up at Oliver._

_"Matthew," Oliver warned._

_"I don't give a damn!" Matt snapped. "Kill me! You'd be doing me a favor. As you can see," he gestured to the tombstone, "I have absolutely nothing left!" He wasn't lying. His sister had been what had kept him going since he was twelve._

_He actually felt like ripping his hair out as he fell go his knees in front of his best friend. "Please," his voice broken, "Oliver. Put me out of my misery."_

_Oliver looked down at Matt, and saw something that resembled sympathy. Oliver walked over and grabbed Matt's sword. He slowly walked up and stood right in front of Matt. Without so much as another word, the sword slashed down across his neck and down his chest, the cold metal cutting deep. Matt watched unseeingly as they walked off, none of them looking back as he fell to the dirt._

_When he woke up, his head was pounding. He was laying in a hospital, machines beeping at the same pace of his heart. His neck hurt along with the rest of his chest. His mind felt foggy, and he knew he was under the influence of sedatives. He looked around the white room, all the while his hand reached up and touched the bandaged skin of his neck._

_"Seems awfully painful," a voice said from right beside him._

_Jumping, he slowly looked over and saw a guy with black hair, one brown eye was visible, while the other was covered with an eyepatch._

_"Who the hell are you?" Matt snapped, not really caring for formalities._

_"Ethan Nakamura," he responded. "Your new employer."_

_Matt looked at Ethan coldly. "If you haven't noticed, I'm in a hospital with my neck and chest sliced. How do you expect me to do anything?"_

_Ethan handed him two squares of ambrosia, "That's how."_

_Matt silently ate the squares. It helped him clear his foggy mind, and it took away the pain that the medications hadn't. Wiping away his feelings of betrayal and loss, he looked over at Ethan carefully, and asked, "What do you need?"_

**~SEEKINGHADES~**

The depressing walkway brought him out of his thoughts... Claire's reaction to it, anyway. The sight of human remains didn't do her any favors. She gasped lightly, and leaned away from the side that she was closest to, causing her to knock into Matt. "Sorry," she stammered. "I-I didn't mean to."

"Something wrong?" he asked, hating how concern was so obvious in his tone.

That was a bit of a dumb question. He realized that as he assessed what was lining the outside of the walkway. Human bones, they weren't in any sort of specific order. From head to pinky toes, big and little, they all littered the black sand and rocks that they were trekking.

"Never mind," he muttered right before Mark spoke up.

"Really depressing atmosphere," he grunted. "You would think that bones would be a bit much."

"Considering that she's the goddess of ghosts," Kayla sighed, "I don't see how."

Mark didn't respond as they walked further in. Matt looked at the daughter of Apollo and his brother in slight confusion. Figuring that most teenagers his age acted the same way, he shrugged it off.

Matt didn't look down and like an idiot, he stumbled over a stray bone, and in his already unstable condition, he fell ungracefully to the ground. His wounded shoulder hit a sharp bone and the pain was so intense that he blacked out.

**~SEEKINGHADES~**

When he came to, his back was leaning against a large rock, his head rolled to the side, resting on his uninjured shoulder.

"...isn't good," he heard Kayla say. "He's at his limit for nectar and ambrosia. The wound is beyond my ability to heal. It needs godly attention. The Keres are spirits of disease as well. The wound is clean but the damage is done. The disease is slowly spreading. If he doesn't get help..."

"He's coming around," Claire's voice was right beside him. He felt a small hand on his arm. "Matt? Matt, can you hear me?"

"Yeah," he managed, his voice scratchy.

He forced his eyes opened and saw that Kayla and Mark were both in front of him, standing up and looking down at him curiously. He managed to move his head and saw that Claire was on her knees by his good arm. She apparently attempted for a smile, but he easily saw through it, the worry and concern too obvious in her eyes. "Don't worry about me," he said, his voice a bit stronger. "I'm fine."

That was when Claire frowned. "No your not! Don't lie to me, I'm a daughter of Hermes, damn it!"

"I don't have a choice to be anything other than fine," Matt replied, noticing that Kayla and Mark hadn't said a single word.

"We were by a cave when I passed out," Matt said, "anyone mind telling me what happened to it? That was what Melinoe's lair looked like according to legends.

"Behind you," Mark informed him.

Matt clambered to his feet, shrugging off Claire when she offered to help him. He saw the slight hurt look on her face that disappeared moments later, and felt a twang of guilt. As soon as he looked at the cave, the feeling was thrown out of his head. "If that's her lair, where is she?"


	8. The Ghost and the Piercer

**CLAIRE:**

Matt was starting to worry her. He seemed to be getting weaker and weaker, and him passing out was just the breaking point of her concern. She had to resist the strange urge to jump in his arms and hug the breath out of him when he woke. Watching him get up and refusing even the smallest amount of help from her kind of hurt, but she figured that it was an issue of his pride. Before she could think more on it, white smoke started billowing out of the cave. Slowly, Claire saw a beautiful brunette woman come out. She was pale and sickly looking. She looked at Matt, who'd dropped to his knees at the sight of her, which made sense, because the woman looked a lot like him.

"You uncaring brat," she hissed at him. "Couldn't bother to go out and make enough money to save me! Your own sister, the one that kept you out of orphanages. You let me whither away, always at my side when you could have been off making the money to save my life!"

The look on Matt's face was one that Claire never wanted to see on him again. He looked lost, hopeless, helpless, and completely devastated."

"Stop!" Claire snapped, stepping forward.

The woman looked at her and frowned. Before Claire could do anything else, the ghostly woman looked at Kayla and smirked. She changed to a tall woman with blonde hair, green eyes, and a vibrant smile. "Hello, darling."

"Ma... mama?" she stuttered, her blue eyes becoming unusually bright.

"My sweet Kayla. I've missed you. Why don't you join me?"

Kayla stepped forward as if in a trance, as did Matt.

"Mark," Claire snapped, stepping in front of the injured son of Ares.

Mark didn't need anymore incentive, he wrapped his arms around Kayla and literally carried her a few steps back. Kayla screamed and kicked him with all of her strength. "Let me go, damn it! That's my mother!"

"Calm down," Claire heard him say to her. "That isn't your mother."

That was all she was able to make out, she was too busy fending off Matt, who seemed to be desperate to get around her. He shoved at her with strength that Claire didn't know he would have in his condition. "Move," the venom his voice sent shivers down her spine.

"Matt," she said frantically, she took his face in her hands, her one hand accidently grazing over his scar. Once he was looking into her eyes, she said. "Matt, listen to me. This isn't your sister."

He stiffened for a moment before shoving her away. "You're lying!"

"Damn it!" Claire screeched, turning around to face Melinoe. Her dagger drawn. "Leave them alone!"

Melinoe looked at Claire, her head cocked to one side, as if she was trying to read into her soul. Despite her resolve and anger, she felt herself starting to tremble under the goddess' harsh gaze. That's when she changed form. She was no longer the blonde beauty that was Kayla's mom. She was hideous. One half of her was chalky white, while the other side was charcoal black, as if she'd had one half of her body burnt, yet it was hardened as if it had been mummified. The golden dress and golden shawl didn't go with the soulless pits that she had instead of eyes.

"No ghosts, eh?" she asked, a challenge in her voice. "Neither of you. That's fine, everyone eventually gets ghosts."

Mark growled, apparently losing patients. He thrust Kayla behind him and ran forward and slashed his sword at the woman. It went through her as if it was going through air. She hissed and the fog cleared. Matt and Kayla both blinked unsteadily, before looking at Melinoe and flinching. They must have realized how truly hideous she was.

"What happened?" Kayla asked sharply. "Where is-"

"They were never here," Matt said, his voice filled with so much rage and venom that it made Claire take a step away from him. "She fooled us!"

"You're too late, demigods," the ghost cackled. "I've already made a deal!"

"What deal?" Claire demanded.

Melinoe hissed a twisted laugh, "There're so many ghosts, my young demigods, they long to roam the land of the living yet again! When Kronos rules, I will be unleashed, free to walk among the mortals, creating the very fear that all of the pathetic wastes of existence deserve!"

"Where's the sword?" Matt barked. "Where's that scumbag, Ethan?"

"Close," Melinoe said, her voice resembling a demonic cat's purr. "I won't stop you. I have no need to. Soon you will all have many more ghosts. You will all remember me!"

Kayla's rage was showing. Her normally blue eyes flashed gold, and she had one of her arrows notched and aimed at the goddess. "When you open a path to the world, Kronos isn't going to reward you. You know it and so do we! He's gonna cast you down into Tartarus with the rest of Hades' pathetic servants."

Melinoe looked at Kayla savagely. "You have many ghosts, girl! Your mother wasn't the only one," Melinoe seemed to be shifting into someone else, this time it was a young guy, but before Claire could make out any details, Kayla's arrow flew toward her. As soon as the arrow touched the ghost goddess, she melted into ghostly fog, which evaporated.

Claire saw that Mark had enveloped Kayla into a tight embrace. That was when she remembered Matt. Turning around, she saw that he was just standing there, his face a mask of fury and loss. He was shaking slightly, and his eyes seemed to be completely unseeing. Not knowing what else to do, Claire wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down toward her, letting him rest his trembling head on her shoulder.

It took him a second to respond to the comfort. And when he did, it was sudden and shocked Claire. He wrapped his arms around her, and buried his face deeply in the crook of her neck, clinging to her as if she was his only lifeline. "Its okay," she murmured, running her fingers through his hair, "its okay." He was shaking against her as if he was doused with a container of ice water in the middle winter.

"She was right," he breathed, pulling her closer, his fingernails digging uncomfortably into her back, "I failed... I failed her, I failed you..."

"No," Claire whispered, hugging him impossibly tighter. "You've done everything perfectly. You haven't failed anyone."

His breath hitched, and he stiffened. He pulled away from her abruptly, his eyes clear and emotionless again. He eyed Claire coldly, and said, "We need to go," as if proving his point, he looked down at the hand that was holding the flower. Yet another petal fell off, leaving one left.

"Normally I'm not one to be a pessimist," Mark said walking over, "but I think that we're too late."

"I haven't failed any of my jobs yet," Matt said, eying his half brother. "I'll be damned if I start failing now."

MATT:

"You were right, boy!" a voice boomed from deeper inside the cave.

Matt looked at everyone, Mark and Kayla looked back at him, as if asking how he wanted to play it. Claire looked at the inside of the cave furiously. He let his gaze linger on Claire for half a second longer, silently cursing himself for being so weak, before he said, "Ready to find out who's been giving us such a hard time?"

Mark held his hand out toward Matt in a fist, "And kick his ass." Matt smirked and gave Mark a fistbump.

Before they had time to go into the cave, three people walked to the mouth. Matt recognized two from memories, and the other he figured out from legend. One was a black haired boy with an eyepatch and a impressive Stygian sword, another was a blonde haired blue eyed boy who was staring directly at Matt with shock etched on his face. The next man was proof that the sword had been used, he had bright eyes of pure silver, was three meters or so tall, his grey hair and scraggly beard stuck out wildly, he looked extremely thin, and his prison jumpsuit was ripped and worn. It was obvious that he'd spent quite a few thousand years at the bottom of a pit. Despite all that he looked scary, especially since Matt was in an already weakened state.

Ethan Nakamura, son of Nemesis, Iapetus, and Oliver, son of Apollo. Iapetus held out his hand and a spear appeared, the meaning of his name came to Matt's mind, and he cringed. The Piercer. The cruel smile that the Titan gave them was even more sinister with the words that came with it, "And now I will destroy you."

"Master!" Ethan interrupted, though he looked as though he'd rather not. He looked in pretty bad condition, worn out, and beaten up, as if running around the underworld for a week was hard work. "We have the sword! We should-"

"Yes, yes," Iapetus sighed, as if he had been putting up with idiots for a while. "You've done a great job, Nawaka."

"Its Nakamura, master," Ethan said dryly.

"Whatever," Iapetus sighed carelessly. "I'm sure my brother will reward you both. But for now we have killing to attend to."

"My lord," it was Oliver this time. "You are not at full power. We should ascend and summon your brothers from the upper world. Our orders were to flee."

The Titan whirled on him, "FLEE? Did you just say FLEE?"

The ground rumbled, but to Oliver's credit, he stood his ground. Years of being a mercenary showing. Ethan had fallen, scrambling backward like any sane person would have. "M-m-master, please-"

"IAPETUS DOES NOT FLEE! I want revenge, and I will start by killing these four weaklings!"

"They aren't weaklings," Oliver responded, looking directly at Matt, "we were ordered to flee."

Iapetus ignored him and stepped forward toward the nearest person: Claire. Matt felt a rush of protectiveness. No one touched Claire.

Iapetus was obviously shocked by the bravery of the daughter of Hermes. So was Matt. Claire jumped at him. Her eyes glowing in anger, her dagger flashed forward, slicing him in his chest. Iapetus jumped back in surprise, and swung his huge spear around, smacking her in her side. Claire went flying at top speed into a pile of large, sharp rocks.

"CLAIRE!" Matt shouted, taking an involuntary step in her direction. Before he could get any closer to her, Iapetus came forward after him.

Matt's instincts kicked in, and he rolled under the spear that came swinging at him. Landing on his feet and ignoring the agony of the wound, he ran toward the Titan, noticing that Mark was right beside him.

"I've got this bastard," Mark said. "You're in no condition. Get Claire and take care of those assholes," he gestured toward Oliver and Ethan, "Kayla and I've got this one."

Matt nodded wordlessly and ran for Claire. She was laying there, her eyes closed, blood trickling from a small cut on her forehead. He knelt down and shook her gently. She groaned and her eyes fluttered open. She looked at him then blinked rapidly. Without warning, she jumped to her feet, causing Matt to maneuver out of her way. Matt mimicked her movements and turned around. Ethan and Oliver were walking toward them. They paused maybe a yard away from each other. Oliver kept glancing back and forth between the two of them, an actual half smile filling his face.

"Never thought I would see the day," he murmured.

Matt tensed, his sword pointing straight toward Oliver's chest. "What," he asked venomously, "are you talking about?"

Oliver looked at him for a moment, sadness deep within his eyes. "Matt, I don't want to fight you."

Ethan didn't seem to have that problem. The eyepatched boy jumped at Matt, his sword clanging against his with a surprising amount of force. Matt winced on the tremor that reached his bad shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Claire was saying something to Oliver, who seemed to be frozen on the spot. Matt looked at Ethan and sighed as he blocked a particularly powerful strike aimed for his neck. So that was how he wanted to play it.

Matt pressed forward, allowing his attacks to become swifter, ignoring the growing pain in his shoulder.

**CLAIRE:**

She raised her dagger and was about to help Matt out since the blonde didn't seem keen on fighting. She took a step toward her injured partner, but before she could, the boy stopped her. "Wait. Matt can take care of himself."

"He was scratched by a Kere, no thanks to you," Claire replied coldly. "If you don't want to fight, then stay out of my way."

He said something under his breath and stepped forward. Claire wasn't in the mood. She slashed her dagger out and he jumped easily out of the way. She slashed again, this time he caught her wrist and gave it a twist, she yelled out in pain. As if summoned, Matt was there. Ethan was on the ground, the breath appeared to be knocked out of him.

Matt didn't hesitate, he elbowed the blonde in the side, causing him to let go of her and stumble sideways, clutching his injury. "You don't touch her," Matt growled, gripping the boy's throat, shaking him slightly. "Damn it, Oliver, do you understand me?"

Oliver managed a stiff nod, it was probably the best he could do with what little room he had to move his neck. Matt threw him to the ground like a rag doll. He had a betrayed look on his face.

That's when they realized that Mark and Kayla had began taking the fight toward them. Iapetus was within striking range. They figured that out when he swung his sword, Matt dove to the ground, bring Claire with him, wrapping his arm around her to lessen the impact.

Nakamura was back. He was creeping forward, behind Matt as the two of them jumped to their feet. Matt, who was preoccupied in a fight with Iapetus, which involved dodging that huge spear constantly, didn't see him. Claire jumped forward, tackling him to the ground. They went rolling.

Claire landed on top, knocking his head into the ground roughly. Nakamura seemed barely phased as he threw her off. Claire rolled to her feet and pulled her dagger up just in time to deflect a strike from the eyepatched boy.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mark and Matt take what seemed to be a final desperate charge at the titan. Kayla wasn't with them, and she didn't see Oliver...

She saw a black blur, and had to jump back before she was cut in half. Before she could do anything more that curse herself for being so ADHD, the ground gave one huge tremor and knocked her off balance. She went crashing to the ground, her arm landing at such an awkward angle that she was sure she sprained her wrist. Staggering to her feet, she saw that Mark and Matt were sprawled on the ground. Matt was out cold. Before anyone could do anything else, two golden arrows came flashing forward, burying themselves into Iapetus' chest. The titan roared in pain. "Come, Nawaka!" he shouted. "When I am at full strength, I shall destroy these weaklings!" Before Nakamura could move, Claire tackled him again, wrenching the sword from his grip.

Ethan looked at Claire, as if he was going to make a move to force her to give him the weapon. He seemed to think better of it, she wasn't sure if it was the fact that he was outnumbered, the arrows, or Iapetus. She honestly didn't care, she heaved a sigh of relief as Ethan scrambled after his master.

"I wouldn't think so proudly about your boyfriend!" Ethan shouted. "He's no better than us!"

Before she could feel too good about herself, she remembered Matt. Immediately, she dashed forward, rushing past Mark, who was stumbling to his own too feet, cradling his left arm. Claire dropped to her knees on the ground beside Matt, shaking him gently, patting his face, trying to get him to respond. After a few moments, his eyes snapped open. He tried to sit up, but Claire put a placating hand on his chest. "Rest," she murmured.

He looked at her and blinked slowly, as if not comprehending the fact that she was actually there. "You're okay?" he asked.

Claire laughed quietly. "You're the one that's injured."

He grabbed her hand that was on his chest and squeezed his gently. "Thanks."

Before she could ask why he was thanking her, she heard two sets of footsteps rushing toward her. Kayla and Oliver dropped on his other side. Claire glared at Oliver, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Oliver glared right back, tugging Matt's shirt off to get a better look at his wound. "Helping my friend," he snapped. "If you have a damn problem with it, we can discuss it later."

She felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw that it was Mark. "Come on, let them work," he said.

Claire looked down at Matt, who was looking at her, he seemed to be semiconscious. Claire smiled at him and ran her fingers through his hair. "Its gonna be fine," she said quietly, hoping that she was right.

She got to her feet and allowed the two children of Apollo to take care of him.

**Early update! :) I hope you enjoyed the twists and turns. And Lol, you still hate Oliver now, I imagine... just wait!**


	9. Goodbye

**MATT:**

_He was alone this time. Ethan promised that he wouldn't have a partner. It was only him against one other demigod. He was on a mission to take care of a boy who had gone raving mad in the Labyrinth. Chris something or another. Apparently he was accused of being a traitor to their "cause."_

_They'd left him for dead in the middle of an Arizona desert. He was tasked with the task of taking him out. Once that was completed, he'd be another $60,000 richer. Not that he cared about the money anymore. His sister was gone, he just needed something to do, to get his mind off the sinking depression and the stings of betrayal._

_That was why he found himself in the middle of the state, in one hundred degree weather. The boy was easy to find, raving on about some arena under the earth. Matt was in front of him, Chris was shaking his shoulder, trying to get him to understand. Matt didn't understand, he didn't want to understand. He raised his sword against the unhinged boy, prepared to end his life, sending him to what was probably going to be the Fields of Punishment, but couldn't bring himself to do it. Chris wasn't a threat to anybody. It would be like bringing his sword against Alexandria, he just couldn't do it._

_Slowly, he lowered his weapon, and looked at the boy. His facial features pegged him as a son of Hermes, normally they weren't easily driven over any edge. All he knew was that he wasn't keen on taking a trip through the Maze anytime soon. Matt backed up slightly, about to turn and leave the poor demigod to his mad ravings, when he realized that abandoning him was just as good of a death warrent as killing him with his own blade. Matt sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Where did this damned conscience come from? "Come on," he told the insane boy softly, "let's find you somewhere to stay."_

_**~SEEKINGHADES~**_

_He'd been with Chris for three days, searching through the heated city for any source of help for Chris. He couldn't just sign him into a psych ward, he might do something that could harm an innocent person, or another soldier of Kronos' army could find him. They were out in the desert, Matt was looking for something that would remind Chris exactly who he was. They were walking around the area that Matt had found him in, while Chris was raving about the underground maze. _

_"Chris?" a girl's voice called out._

_Matt turned around and saw an extremely buff girl with stringy brown hair, she sported a permanent looking scowl and ruthless brown eyes._

_"Mary?" he asked, excitement coloring his voice. "Mary is that you? Don't go in the maze!"_

_The girl looked at him in confusion, "No Chris, it's me, Clarisse!"_

_Clarisse seemed to notice Matt for the first time. "Punk," she growled, "what did you do to him?"_

_"Nothing," Matt replied calmly. "He's your friend?"_

_She nodded, pulling a knife from her pocket. "Now tell me what happened to him before I run you through!"_

_"I don't know," Matt said solemnly. "I found him like this, raving about a maze." Matt gripped Chris' wrist and tugged him toward the large girl. "I was ordered to kill him, but he seems innocent, which is much more than I can say about myself. Take him."_

_The girl blinked, then bared her teeth threateningly, "Who do you work for, because if it is Kronos, I swear to Ares I will kill you where you stand."_

_"I don't take sides," Matt said, already walking away from the girl. "But I can assure you that I don't work for a titan."_

_Matt sighed,_ One good deed down, nine hundred ninety nine thousand nine hundred ninety nine to go.

**~SEEKINGHADES~**

It didn't take long for him to come around completely. His eyes opened to two blonde teenagers. Both familiar, but one made his rage boil over. "What are you still doing here?" Matt groaned, breathing heavily from the exertion that talking took. "Shouldn't you be with your master?"

"Not a chance," Oliver muttered, pulling Matt's arm around his shoulder and helped him to his feet. He saw a wonderfully familiar girl with brown hair and blue eyes looking at him. She looked as though she had gotten an unwanted haircut, her clothes were dirty and torn, and she seemed to be exhausted. In most words she looked like hell (considering where they were, it was probably normal), but as soon as she smiled at him, he was sure he'd never seen someone as wonderful.

He was leaning heavily on Oliver, and he was sure that the son of Apollo was having trouble keeping him upright. Mark, who seemed to look a bit worse for wear, his left in a sling that Kayla probably had on her, seemed to realize it as well, because he stepped away from Claire and wrapped Matt's other arm around his shoulders. "You look like shit, Andrews," he commented.

Matt nodded, and panted, "I believe it, Edwards."

Claire walked up to him slowly, concern deep in her eyes. She didn't say anything, just looked at him for a moment, her eyes flickering from his face to his throbbing shoulder. "I'm fine, little girl," he said, his lips pulled into a uunconscious smile.

Claire didn't say anything about the nickname, and she didn't return the smile, she just continued to look at him. Matt felt himself turn silent as he stared back, not really sure what to say. Before either of them said a word, Kayla walked over and placed a hand on Claire's shoulder. "We need to go."

Claire mutely nodded, and they began their journey toward Hades. It didn't take long for the trek to become too much for the hardened son of Ares to bear. Each step was like someone taking a knife and stabbing him in the shoulder, twisting it around once it was inside.

He gritted his teeth, not letting any sounds of discomfort escape him as they walked, the screams of the damned being enough for anyone to hear. He saw Oliver looking around, the same look on his face that Matt was feeling.

No monsters bothered them. Kayla and Claire were leading the way, weapons drawn, ready to fend off any oncoming attack, while the three guys stayed back. They walked in a harsh silence, that seemed magnified by the sword that Matt had attached to his hip.

They passed by Sisyphus again. He was yelling curses at them loudly. The French was where he said the harshest curses, Matt only vaguely heard him, but of was obvious that Oliver had. He was scowling at the older man. "Hate that guy," Oliver muttered. "He pinched my nose, forced me to catch the idiot so Nakamura could question him.

Every time Matt would blink, his eyes would stay closed a little longer before he would force them open again. That didn't stop him from replying to Oliver with a bit of difficulty. "That reminds me... what's with the change of heart?"

"We're best friends, aren't we?" he asked.

"Brothers," Matt agreed. "At least we were."

"Still are in my book," Oliver said. "I don't give a damn about my father. I don't like him, but I don't feel strongly enough about him to go against you in a war. And you've obviously chosen your side."

"I haven't chosen any side," Matt replied weakly and winced as Mark accidently jolted him by stepping into a pothole. "And I don't know what your issue is with fighting me. You tried to kill me two years ago."

"I didn't try to kill you, Matt," he replied calmly. "Use your commonsense. If I wanted to kill you, would you still be breathing? Would I have left you there on the ground by your sister's grave alive?"

Matt was silent, so Oliver continued. "I saved your life. Those demigods with me would have killed you if I wouldn't have made it seem convincing. All I gave you was another scar." He smirked at Matt, nodded toward Claire, and whispered, "Besides, chicks dig scars."

Matt felt his face flush slightly, he opened his mouth to demand what he was talking about, when Mark stumbled again, causing his shoulder to stretch out again. He groaned in pain as fiery pulses ripped through his shoulder, he could his scabs tare open. He felt blood starting to seep down his shoulder, his vision was starting to flicker, and the pain seemed to be increasing.

"Matt?" Claire's voice was the last thing he heard before he blacked out.

**~SEEKINGHADES~**

When he woke up, he was in a dark chamber, the bed he was on was a plush canopy, the blankets were black, and there were carvings of skulls and fires on the wood. Torches were burning one on each of the four walls, letting him know that the bed was the only object in the small room.

He carefully sat up from the comfortable pillows, wincing as he waited for the inevitable pain, and blinked when it didn't come. He looked down and saw that he had his normal clothes on, and behind the torn fabric, he saw that his scratch was nothing more than a painful looking scar.

Unsure of whatelse to do, he jumped down from the bed, his bare feet hitting the warm stone floor. Looking down, he saw his combat boots and socks sitting neatly beside the bed. He quickly slipped them on.

Once he was finished tying the last lace, he heard the sound of a door opening. Slowly, he turned around, and saw Kayla and Mark stand in the doorway.

"Glad to see you're awake," Kayla said softly.

Matt nodded, "Thanks, by the way. I never did thank you for taking care of me. You seem to heal me a lot." He turned to his brother, "And thanks for helping me move. Apparently you do that a lot too."

"Hades did this," Mark responded, nodding to his shoulder, "that's actually where we are. He wanted to talk to us before we all left."

"How long have we been here?" Matt asked curiously.

"Not too long, actually," Kayla mused. "You've only been out for three hours, four at the most."

"Hades is waiting for us, by the way," Mark said, looking at the door. "That's where Claire and your friend, Oliver are."

Matt could tell that Mark didn't trust Oliver by the way he said his name. Not that Matt could blame him, if Matt hadn't have grown up with him, he doubted that he would have been so quick to take to him. The feeling of betrayal was still creeping there, but he didn't think that Oliver would harm him or anyone else.

"Well," Kayla said, "we should probably get back before Claire says something stupid."

"Agreed," Matt sighed, gesturing for them to lead the way.

The throne room was a quiet and dangerous looking place. Hades and Persephone were sitting on their thrones, Claire and Oliver were standing in front of them, their postures suggested that they weren't pleased by their situation, whether it was from each other or from the gods. Matt cast them both a weak smile and knelt down in front of the gods, all of the others following his example. "Lord Hades, Lady Persephone."

"You may rise, demigods," Hades said, sounding bored. "I have called you here to... express my gratitude. I can see that all of you have fears," his gaze lingered on Matt as he said this, "from being eternally damned, to fearing not being able to save the people you love the most. For everyone, I am saying that your worst fear will not be realized so long as you keep at what you are doing."

Matt looked around at the rest of the demigods in the room. Had they really been blessed by the lord of the Underworld?

Persephone came off her throne, and shrunk to the size of a mortal woman. She looked at all of them before handing them a rose petal each. "Step on these and they will take you to where you want to go the most. Lord Hades and I have to go and supervise the finishing of the sword." Matt closed his eyes and in a flash, the two gods were gone.

The entire room was silent. Everyone looked from one another. Matt felt himself crack a smile, "I can't believe we did it."

"I can," Claire declared. "You're one kickass fighter."

Mark sighed, "We should get going in case Hades decides that he doesn't want to let us go so easily." With that said he dropped his petal and crushed it. A second later, he was gone.

"I should probably go too," Kayla sighed. "I was doctoring a patient in critical condition... got the wrong end of Clarisse's spear." Dropping her petal, she was gone within the second, leaving only Matt, Claire, and Oliver standing in the room.

**CLAIRE:**

The silence in the room was beyond awkward. Matt looked at Oliver and sighed, "My house. I... I have something to take care of."

Oliver nodded mutely and before he crushed his rose, he looked at Claire and said, "For what its worth, thanks."

She merely nodded and he crushed his petal, disappearing the next second. Matt turned around and Claire saw the look of pain and longing in his eyes.

"What was that about?" he asked.

"Nothing important," she replied. "I'm sure Oliver will tell you."

He looked at her for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed, "I..." he trailed off, apparently not knowing what to say. She couldn't blame him, what was there to say? 'Have a nice life?' It didn't work that way.

"Why don't you come back with me?" she asked, feeling hopeful despite the fact that she already knew the answer.

"I can't," he murmured. "You know that."

"No I don't," she replied, trying desperately to keep her voice even. "Please, tell me why."

"Claire, please don't do this," he said, she could hear the quaver of his voice, letting her know that he was close to breaking, she found that she didn't care.

"Do what?" she questioned.

"Damn it!" he said abruptly, looking around as if trying to locate an appropriate wall to punch. "This is why I don't make friends! It makes it so damn hard to... to..."

He trailed off and looked at her desperately, as if willing her to understand. Claire looked back at him, she bit her lower lip as she thought. "Will... will I ever see you again?" she questioned.

"I don't know," he replied gravely. "Probably not."

"But, I... I want to see you again," she said, looking anywhere but at him. "I want to get to know you. All I know is that you're a mercenary, you're eighteen, you call me little girl to piss me off, your favorite color is blue, and a things that Oliver told me."

She saw a half smile tug at the corner of his mouth. "You and Oliver were talking?"

"Yeah," she replied, "while you were asleep, he was telling us stories from your past, trying to prove to us that he really knew you."

"What did he tell you?" Matt questioned.

Claire had a brief flashback, "_He hasn't looked at someone like he looks at you since his first crush in the third grade."_

She walked slightly closer to him, standing straight in front of him, and said, "Nothing much." Slowly and gently, she placed a hand on his neck, over the scar. He closed his eyes and shuddered as if he'd been shocked. His hand flew up and clasped over hers. She thought that he was going to throw it off, but instead he held it there. In a barely audible whisper, she said, "He told me how you got this. Where you were when it happened..."

Claire didn't know how to express just how sorry she was that he had gone through what he did. Tugging him down to her level, she pulled him into a hug. "I... I understand why you are the way you are, and I'm so sorry. I wish-"

Matt cut her off, pulling her closer, "Don't," he murmured, "I know."

Despite how hard she was fighting to hold them back, a tear slipped down her cheek. She buried her face into his neck, desperate to hide it. "I'm going to miss you so much. I've never met anyone like you before."

Matt stiffened slightly and pulled away from her, "I hope you never meet anyone like me again. Remember what I told you when we first got here? It hasn't changed, I'm not a good friend for you. I'm nowhere near good enough for you..."

Claire looked at him, feeling aggravation, and sadness. She tugged him closer, and pressed her lips firmly against his. He stood there shocked for a moment before kissing her back, holding her impossibly closer, as if, once again, she was his lifeline. When he pulled away, he buried his face into her neck, and said, "I am so sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for," she said, pulling away. "You've done everything perfectly. You need to stop with the low self esteem. You're an amazing person."

Matt pulled away from her, shaking his head. "Only to you," he murmured before he brushed his lips against hers one last time and stepped away. She felt coldness set in, already missing his warmth.

"Goodbye, Claire," Matt said gravely, placing his petal on the floor.

Claire mimicked his actions, and thought Camp Half-Blood desperately, not wanting to accidently follow Matt to where he was going. "Goodbye, Matt. Its been fun."

He gave her a real smile, something she'd never really seen from him. "It actually has."

Both of them crushed the petals at the same time, Claire got one last good look at Matt, who was staring back, before she was gone.

**Consider the update a 4th of July present (for those who celebrate it) I hope the flashback was informative about Matt and tell me: any changes of heart about Oliver yet? I own nothing :)**


	10. Discussions

**MATT:**

He sighed as he opened his eyes and found himself in his living room. Oliver was sitting on his plush leather couch, looking at him carefully. He looked away from his friend and around the room, from the smooth tan walls, to the tile floor. His eyes stopped at the flat screen TV which was playing the news. He inhaled deeply, relishing in the way that the cool air soothed the warmth on his skin. "Hey, man," Oliver said, standing up, "are you okay?"

Matt was quiet for a moment, letting the news woman's words fill the silence, "...severe weather looming toward Manhattan. Wildfires and earthquakes in California leaving thousands homeless, dozens dead..."

"Yeah," Matt sighed. "I should probably go and take a shower... you can use the room that you used to use. But when I get out... you've got some explaining to do."

Oliver nodded mutely. Matt didn't wait, he headed out of the room, down a short hallway, toward the front door, and up stairs. He desperately needed to be alone. Being alone with his thoughts was good... right? It allowed him to reflect on just how much a week in hell had changed him. As he looked in his mirror above the sink of the bathroom, he realized that even his appearance had changed. His hair seemed to be longer, the brown tips just past his eyebrows he was paler... much paler. His skin used to be tanned from all the time he spent scoping out his operations, he was definitely thinner, his muscles seemed smaller, as if not eating in a week while running after enemies underground was bad for your health. His eyes seemed to have a haunted look to them, and the bags under them reminded him of a zombie. His body was covered with so many dark spots, he wasn't sure what were bruises and what was just dirt.

Absently he wondered what Claire would look like normally. The thought that he would probably never know saddened him. '_Quit being selfish,'_ he scolded himself, '_she's better off without you_.' He couldn't argue with that logic, she was way better off. He stepped inside the shower, allowing himself to hiss as the water beat against some of his nastier bruises.

**~SEEKINGHADES~**

He slowly walked to the living room, wondering what Oliver was going to tell him. He saw that the room was empty, so he sat down on the couch, grabbed the remote and switched the TV off. He sat in silence, laying his head against the plush leather, his eyes closed, enjoying how well wearing his old sweats and an old T-shirt while sitting in the safety of his home felt.

He couldn't help but wonder what Claire was doing...

**~SEEKINGHADES~**

**CLAIRE:**

She was standing in her cabin when she opened her eyes. She breathed out a sigh of relief. Connor and Travis were the only two people in the cabin other than her. The gaped at her, blinking rapidly, before hastily shoving papers under blankets. Claire couldn't bring herself to care. She gave them a halfhearted smile and mutely walked out the door, looking for Chiron, so she could let him know that she was back.

"Claire!" a voice behind her shouted. Turning around, she saw that it was Skylar Rocaine, her sister. She rushed over and hugged her happily. "Where have you been?"

"Oh," Claire said. "I, um... went on a quest. With that new kid."

"You mean that guy that you found about to be murdered by a Fury?" she asked.

"Yeah," Claire nodded. "His name's Matt."

"What happened?" Skylar questioned. "Where is he?"

"I can't tell you what happened," Claire said. "But, um, Matt didn't come back to camp with me," she swallowed back a lump in her throat.

Skylar looked at her closely for another moment. "I'm sorry," she murmured.

Claire just nodded, "I've gotta go, Chiron doesn't even know I'm back."

Skylar smiled and started walking away to where her friend, Will Solace was standing. "Alright then, bye Claire."

Claire made it to the large blue building without another interruption. Chiron was sitting in his wheelchair, Mr. D was on the other side of him, they were playing some card game or another.

"I must be going," Mr. D said. "Father has called for another meeting." He looked over and saw Claire walking up. "Watson is back from her quest anyway."

"It's Wilson," Claire said halfheartedly.

"Whatever," Mr. D said, waving his hand. He grabbed his can of diet coke and with a small pop, he was gone, leaving the smell of grapes behind.

It was quiet until the sound of footsteps sounded on the wood behind her. She turned around and saw Mark and Kayla standing behind her. A small smile was on Kayla's face as she looked at Claire. "I imagine your quest was a success," Chiron said calmly.

The three demigods nodded.

"Where is the fourth member?" Chiron asked.

"He didn't come back," Claire responded, trying desperately to keep her voice level. "He went back to his house."

Chiron nodded and said, "No more than what I expected."

"Sorry, sir," Claire said, "but we aren't able to go into detail about the quest."

Chiron nodded and was silent for a moment. "Very well. You have the rest of the day off. Good to have you all back."

"How long have we been gone?" Claire asked suddenly, remembering how strange the time was in magical places.

"Four days," he replied.

Claire blinked, "That's all?"

Chiron nodded then looked down at a small wristwatch. "You will have to excuse me. I have a class in ten minutes. I really must get ready."

Claire nodded and turned away, walking down the steps, being dragged away to the infirmary by Kayla, who was talking about healing her head wound.

"I'm fine!" she insisted.

"Bye, Mark," Kayla called, about wrenching Claire's shoulder from its socket as they entered the infirmary. Claire sat on the nearest unoccupied bed and looked forward as Kayla started cleaning the cut that was starting to throb on the back of her head.

"What happened once we left?" she questioned suddenly. "You were gone for a few minutes afterwards I imagine."

Claire hoped her cheeks weren't too red as she replied, "We just talked," then in a small voice, she said, "and said goodbye."

"Are you alright?" Kayla asked worriedly.

Claire took a large and shaky breath before saying, "Yeah. I'm perfectly okay."

"You sure?" Kayla questioned.

Claire nodded, managing a small half smile. "I'll be fine. It's just a small cut."

"That's not what I'm talking about," Kayla informed her, placing her hands on her hips.

"I know," Claire said, shrugging. "He was only in my life for a few days. I'll get over it."

Kayla was silent for a moment, administering the rest of the solution to the back of Claire's head. Finally she said, "I don't know, the way you talked to him, and looked at him, the way you were worried about him... I've never seen you like that before."

Claire closed her eyes, biting her bottom lip, which was still tingly from their kiss not fifteen minutes before. "I don't have a choice," she murmured. "Do I?"

Kayla managed a weak smile, "Guess not."

In the back of her head, she wondered what Matt was up to...

**MATT:**

He opened his eyes to the noise of soft footsteps walking toward him. He saw Oliver standing there, his bright blonde hair wet and dark from the shower he'd just had. "Alright," Oliver said, sitting down on the recliner Indian style. "What do you want to know?"

"What made you change sides so easily," Matt asked immediately, mimicking the way Oliver was seated.

"You were neutral as far as I knew," Oliver replied. "I was, am, still resentful of Apollo. A few demigods came and told me about their hatered of the gods and told me about their cause. I joined.

When we came to recruit you, I insisted on going, knowing that you probably wouldn't want to get involved, as usual, that and I heard about Alex. When I saw you, you seemed devastated. Then as we talked, I figured that her death had caused you to lose your mind." He took a deep breath before continuing. "When I heard you beg for death, I had already been questioning what kind of army I was with. The others were there, though. So I had to make it look realistic. I'm sorry for the pain I caused you. Then when we were in the Underworld, it was obvious what side you had chosen. And it wasn't mine."

"Oliver," Matt interjected. "I'm still neutral."

"Matt," Oliver sighed. "You would follow Claire anywhere. We both know it. You wouldn't raise a blade against her cause, you may not be on the gods' side, but you're on hers."

"Anyways," Oliver said, "like I was saying. You're my best friend. I dislike Apollo, but not enough to lose my friend over. You're my brother," he said shrugging, "you're more important to me than Apollo is." He looked up at him and frowned, "And do me a favor. Never ask for death again, it totally goes against everything about you. We're demigods, we have to keep fighting."

Matt nodded, "Alright. Last thing: why did you thank Claire before you left?"

"Oh," Oliver smiled faintly at him. "That."

"Yeah," Matt said, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked at him, "that."

"You were as good as dead," Oliver said, looking straight at him...

**~SEEKINGHADES~**

_"Damn it," Oliver said, wheezing slightly as they made it through Persephone's garden and up the stairs. "set him down for a moment, I don't think he's breathing."_

_"What?" Claire demanded._

_"Give me a second," Oliver snapped. He knelt down and checked the vein in his neck, pressing down until he felt a pulse other than his own. "He's still hanging in there, but barely, his pulse is weak and he's taking incredibly shallow breaths. I don't know how much longer we have before-"_

_Claire cut him off, "Don't even say that!"_

_She turned on her heel and opened the door to Hades' throne room. He and Persephone were sitting there, apparently waiting for them to come. Mark and Oliver picked Matt back up, and he, Mark, and Kayla rushed back into the palace right behind her._

_"Well," Hades asked, "where is it?"_

_"Can you help him?" Claire asked, pointing to Matt._

_"I'm not going to ask you again, demigod," Hades growled, "where is it?"_

_"Its right here," Claire said, gesturing to Matt's hip. "Now can you help him?"_

_"You have one more insolent thing to say before I blast you to bits and throw what remains into the Fields of Punishment!" Hades thundered._

_"Claire," Kayla said warningly from beside Oliver._

_Claire didn't seem to hear her, he turned back to Hades and said, "I don't care what you do to me!" Claire replied angrily, "Just help him! He was scratched by Keres, saving my life while we were doing a favor for you!"_

_Hades rose from his throne, and Oliver saw an angry light in his eyes. He was sure that Claire was as good as dead, and he was pretty sure that the rest of them would be collateral damage from his wrath. Hades started to glow, but before anything damaging could happen, Persephone was there. "HADES!" she snapped. "I know you are not about to incinerate the demigods that just helped you!"_

_The glowing died down, and Persephone was at his side, staring at him severely. "This is why nobody worships you, and why your name is only brought up on dark occasions!"_

_"Dear," Hades said, his voice strained. "Do you really want to do this right now?"_

_"You will not harm them! Try to make a better name for yourself!"_

_Hades eyes flashed with rage, he held out his hand and the sword flew from Matts hip and into his hand. "I am going back to the smiths to give them the sword." he flashed out of the room._

_"He's going to be insufferable tonight," Persephone muttered. She looked at all of them, her eyes lingering on Matt the longest. Sighing, she walked over and placed her hand on his shoulder. Her hand glowed for a moment, before turning back to normal. Oliver smiled in relief as Matt began breathing more deeply. He glanced down at Matt's shoulder and realized that there weren't any cuts, just scars._

_"Claire," Persephone said, turning around and looking at the daughter of Hermes, "I would like to speak with you for a moment." She snapped her fingers and a skeletal soldier stepped forward. "Show these three," she gestured to tthe rest of them, "to a resting chamber. Lay him down and then come back. He needs rest."_

_Claire followed Persephone out of the throne room, probably going to her garden, while the rest of them followed a soldier that looked as though he was a patriot for the American Revolution._

**~SEEKINGHADES~**

Matt raised an eyebrow as he looked at his friend, the feeling of disbelief filling each and every part of him to the brim. "She actually did that?" he asked, not entirely sure if he believed his friend.

Oliver smiled and nodded, "Yeah, she did. I think she's got it worse for you than Alice did."

Matt smiled and shook his head, remembering when he was twelve and that nerdy girl that liked him. "Too late now," he sighed.

"Why?" Oliver demanded. "You know exactly where she is!"

"Oliver," Matt sighed. "I am not about to make her life anymore hectic than a normal demigod life normally is. She's so much better off without me. It would be selfish to think any other way."

Silence consumed the room as both friend stayed in their own thoughts. "Look, Oliver," Matt said. "Its been a hard quest. I think ima turn in."

"I don't blame you, man," he sighed, leaning down to get the remote. "I'm not right now. The news has been pretty informative. Everything is getting worse, Matt, it won't be long now; the final stage of this war is coming, and its coming fast."

**Hey! I would like to say that I am working on the new Electrifying Currents story. It won't be out until this is finished because you need to know Matt's Claire's and Oliver's story... oops I think I may have just given out a hint about the next story, lol.**

**Review? If you do I might think about updating early and give you a preview of the next story!**


	11. Holding Manhattan

**Two weeks later...**

**KAYLA:**

She looked at Mark, who was lounging around on a plush square of grass, from where she was leaning against a tree. He had his arms crossed behind his head with his eyes closed. She noted, with a small degree of pride, that the large cut that he'd received from Iapetus was completely healed, and turning into a scar, which would blend right in with the many others that marred his large arms.

The Apollo and Ares cabins were feuding over a flying chariot that had been won during a raid that they'd both carried out the week before. So she and Mark probably shouldn't have been hanging out, but that didn't stop them from being in the clearing together.

"Kayla," Mark said, not bothering to close his eyes, "I brought you out here so you could relax. My cabin has been wreaking havoc on yours. You're turning into a nervous wreck because of it. So please, relax."

Kayla sighed, and closed her blue eyes for a moment, remembering how peaceful it had been before Claire had been sent on that quest. Subconsciously she blamed Matt for everything that was going on, but she knew that none of it was his fault... except for maybe the main thought that was in her head.

"I'm worried about Claire," she admitted sighing as she walked over and laid beside him. "She hasn't been the same." And Kayla wasn't lying. Claire had become much more subdued, she was quieter, and way more withdrawn. It was almost like she was sad because it was almost impossible to get a smile out of her.

"You're never the same after your first quest," Mark replied. "You remember ours?"

"How could I forget you almost bleeding to death on me?" she questioned dryly.

"Not what I meant," he sighed, "but okay. You weren't the same either."

"Yeah," Kayla agreed, "but this is different."

She saw Mark shift around in the corner of her eye. She didn't think anything of it, figuring that he was just getting comfortable. Suddenly, she was being pulled from where she was onto the firm surface of his chest. She yelped in surprise, her hand darting out to prevent her from falling forward. She looked at him with wide eyes, but Mark just rolled his eyes and sighed. "Claire's a big girl, she's gonna be fine."

"She misses him," Kayla said, finally voicing her suspicions.

Mark sighed again, this time sounding exasperated, apparently he realized that Kayla wasn't going to relax until they got to the bottom of this. "Yeah," he agreed. "That's most likely it. Something probably happened down there that we don't know about." Mark shrugged, "then the selfish bastard just up and left her."

Kayla sighed, and laid her head down against his chest, wondering with amusement what would happen if someone found them out in the forest like that. "I really am worried, though," she sighed.

Mark patted her back, "I understand," he said truthfully, "But she'll get over it. She didn't know him for that long."

"But-"

Mark cut her off, "Kayla, take a nap, or something. You know you have to go back to work at the infirmary after this. I'm more worried about you, now relax before I have you admitted there myself."

Kayla sighed and rolled off of Mark, laying on the ground beside him. "Fine," she snapped, not really angry. She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath, forcing herself to relax. She was getting sleepier and sleepier, so close to relaxation that she could almost taste it... and the emergency bell rang.

"So much for resting," she mumbled.

"Let's see what this is about," Mark said. "Then we'll come back."

"You sure?" Kayla questioned.

"Positive," Mark remarked, "can't have you passing out on us when we need you the most, can we?"

"Guess not," Kayla sighed, little did she know that it would be a while before she set foot in that clearing again.

**MATT:**

"Are you sure about this, Oliver?" Matt groaned. He was sitting in a taxi, driving toward Long Island. Oliver had finally convinced him to go back to the camp. The arguments that they'd had over the subject had always come to a draw until the previous night. Oliver had apparently come up with another strategy for winning him over...

_"Claire's in New York," Oliver said suddenly while they were in a heated discussion over the trip._

_"I know," Matt replied tersely. "That's why I don't want to go!"_

_"You'be seen the weather reports," Oliver snapped, "you know what's happening, and you know where everything's gonna be going down."_

_"How do you know it isn't just bad weather?" Matt snapped right back._

_"Matt," Oliver groaned, "please don't go stupid on me now. You know as well as I do that bad weather happens when the gods are unhappy. And I seriously doubt that the storm that's brewing is because some fishermen pissed Poseidon off!"_

_"Fine," Matt said, his voice sounding guarded. "Why bring her name up now?"_

_"Where do you think all of the fighting his going to go down? And do you really think any of those demigods are going to pass up the chance to fight for their cause?" Oliver leaned forward from the couch he was settled on and said, "Are you really going to let her go out and risk her life, throwing herself into danger, which she is already an apparent magnet for, while you sit here twiddling your thumbs?"_

_"Oliver," Matt growled, "what are you implying?"_

_The son of Apollo shrugged and said, "I thought she meant more than that to you, considering the fact that I thought you were going to break my neck for just touching her."_

_"Damn it," Matt said tiredly, "get packed."_

_Oliver flashed Matt an award winning grin before dashing upstairs. Matt, in turn, groaned and leaned back in the leather lazy boy. "What am I getting myself into?"_

Matt shook himself out of his thoughts, and saw that they were swerving to a sidewalk. Matt leaned forward, and said, "Hey, man..." but he trailed off as he realized something very important, the cab driver was asleep.

"Dude!" Matt cried, jumping forward to grab the wheel. He managed to swerve to avoid the walkway, and a pedestrian that had fallen to the ground. Eventually the car stopped. "Hey!" Matt yelled at the man, contemplating slapping him a few times to wake him up, but decided against it.

"Matt," Oliver said slowly.

"What?" Matt snapped irritably, turning around to look at him.

Oliver mutely pointed out of the window. Matt's gaze followed his finger and his blood ran cold from confusion, suspicion, and dread. They weren't in the only car that had stopped; every car on the street was unmoving. Some had fender benders, others had ran over the sidewalk. More pedestrians had passed out, randomly on the sidewalks, and Matt experienced something that had never happened to him while he was in Manhattan. It was silent. "What the Hell's going on?" Matt muttered.

"I don't know," Oliver responded, ignoring the fact that his question was rhetorical, "but I really don't like it."

Matt opened his door, the slight creaking noise magnified a thousand times louder in the still air. Slowly, he got out of the cab, his sword in hand, his eyes scanning every inch of visible space for the slightest threat. Oliver mimicked his actions, his footsteps echoed off the street, and the sliding sound that the arrow made as he pulled it out of his quiver was easily audible.

"What do you want to do now?" Oliver questioned as he slowly walked over to Matt.

"We're professionals, right?" Matt asked.

Oliver nodded.

"Well then we do what we always do," he replied.

"Scoping out an unknown area it is," Oliver sighed.

He dug through his pockets for a moment before producing a golden drachma and handed it to Matt, "IM me if you need anything."

"Will do," Matt responded, taking a step away from his friend, but before he could take anymore step away he heard the sound of someone talking.

"Oliver," he hissed. "Oliver, get over here. I definitely hear something."

Oliver was by his side in seconds. "Sound like its coming from the Empire State building." They both looked in the general direction, but all they saw were the trees in central park blocking their view.

"Come on," Matt said, not even bothering to look at Oliver. He sprinted forward into the park, making a direct line toward the huge building.

**CLAIRE:**

She looked at her half brother boredly as Connor looked in Annabeth's shiny shield. "Dylan's Candy Bar," he grinned, and looked at Travis, "Dude its open. And everyone is asleep. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Katie Gardner immediately intervened with their troublemaking, scolding Connor for his suggestion.

Claire maneuvered herself to the back of the crowd as Argus pulled away in the camp van. Kayla and a few of her sibling were back there talking quietly as Percy and Annabeth examined the shield.

"I can't believe Clarisse is being this stupid," Kayla growled to her brother, Austin.

"We did try to give the chariot back," her brother signed, running his hands through his thick blonde hair.

"You should have seen the look on Mark's face when I told him that he needed to stay. He was gonna come anyway," Kayla groaned.

"Its better that he stays with his cabin," Claire said quietly. "He might convince them to come out and fight."

"Have you met Clarisse," Austin questioned Claire. "That girl is the most bullheaded person that I know!"

"Mark's not exactly passive," Claire countered.

"I don't know," Kayla finally sighed. "Hopefully they'll protect the camp, though. Regardless of how pissed Clarisse is."

Claire nodded in agreement. She turned slightly, and caught movement in the streets. She took a closer look and saw that two people were running toward them. One was a blonde, the other was brown headed. Both looked very familiar even from the distance away that they were.

"Kayla," Claire said slowly, "tell me that I'm not hallucinating."

"What are you talking about?" her friend questioned before turning and looking the way that she was. "I don't believe it," she breathed after pausing in her shock. "He came back."

A few people must have sensed their presence, because they turned around to look. Realizing that it wasn't a threat, they turned their backs to the two boys that were getting steadily closer.

As soon as they two people reached the group, Claire was scooped up into Matt's arms for a bone crushing hug, which she fiercely returned. Before anybody could say anything, Percy began speaking.

"Alright," he announced, "we're gonna hold Manhattan."

"Um, Percy," Silena's voice sounded from somewhere in the crowd, "Manhattan is huge."

"We are going to hold it," he said forcefully, "we have to."

"He's right," Annabeth said gravely, "the gods of the wind should keep Kronos' forces away from Olympus by air, so he'll try a ground assault. We have to cut off the entrances to the island."

"They have boats," Michael Yew said.

After a moment Percy assured him, "I'll take care of the boats."

"How?" Michael demanded.

"Just leave it to me," Percy said. "We need to guard the bridges and tunnels. Let's assume that they'll try a downtown and midtown assault, at least for their first try. Michael, take Apollo's cabin to the Williamsburg Bridge. Katie, Demeter's cabin takes the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. Connor, take half of the Hermes cabin to cover the Manhattan bridge, Travis, the other half to cover the Brooklyn bridge. And no stopping for looting or pillaging!"

"Aww," the whole Hermes cabin complain, Claire even joined them, feeling their disappointment.

"Silena, take the Aphrodite crew to Queens Midtown Tunnel."

"Oh gods," Claire heard Lacy squeal, "Fifth Avenue is so on our way! We could accessorize, and monsters like, totally hate the smell of Givenchy."

"No delays," Percy said firmly, before relenting slightly, "Well... the perfume thing, if you think it'll work."

With some amusement, she watched as six daughters of Aphrodite walked up and kissed him on the cheek in excitement.

"The Holland tunnel," Percy said continuing giving out orders, he managed to cover each bridge and tunnel, except for the Lincoln Tunnel. Percy looked as though he was about to start cursing up a storm when a girl's voice spoke up.

"How about you leave that to us?"

Everyone spun around, and Thalia, daughter of Zeus was standing there, spikey black hair, a tiara, and a death to Barbie T-shirt. She led a band of at least thirty teenage girls, all with white t-shirts, silvery camouflage pants and combat boots on. A pack of white timber wolves were with them, along with the many hunting falcons that sat on many of the girls' arms.

Percy looked as though he could have started kissing her feet, he was so happy.

Claire and the others eyed the Hunters cautiously, remembering how hostile they were, as Thalia and Percy discussed getting together and comparing adventures. "Alright, hunters, move out!"

"Alright," Percy said. "I don't care how many monsters come at you, fight them bravely and there's no way we can lose... FOR OLYMPUS!"

Everyone repeated the chant, everyone but Matt and Oliver. Neither were doing this for Olympus. Matt was there because of Claire, and Oliver was there because of Matt.

**~SEEKINGHADES~**

**MATT:**

Oliver had split up with them and went with Kayla, insisting that his expertise would be better appreciated with the Apollo cabin. That left him with Claire. Apparently the Ares cabin wasn't there anyway, so he was in the Hermes cabin anyways. They followed the shorter and slightly younger Stoll to the Manhattan Bridge.

Funnily enough, they happened to be stationed beside where the Apollo cabin, and all of Oliver's expertise was. Matt allowed himself a small smile at the thought of his friend. Archery may have been his calling, but he was no slouch with a sword. He was diverse, just like every other mercenary in the world. His attitude immediately sobered up when he saw the army of monsters slowly making their way toward the cabin. Matt looked over at Claire, who was staring at the army, as if calculating something. He noticed, with some amusement that she was in armor, it was the first time he had ever seen her so warlike, and hopefully it would be the last.

She must have sensed him looking at her, because she shifted her gaze, looking at him with raised eyebrows and an oddly serious face, that seemed so out of place on her face. "Yeah?"

Something inside of him flared. It was a burning sense of protectiveness. "Listen to me, Claire," he murmured, not really caring if her sibling heard him. "Don't take any unnecessary risks. Got it?"

Claire raised her eyebrow a bit higher, as if questioning his motives for the demand. He leaned a bit lower and said quietly, "I came all the way from Nevada to make sure that you make it through this war, little girl. I will be damned if a stupid mistake on your part makes me fail."

"Where's your armor?" she asked suddenly, assessing the fact that he was in a t-shirt and cargo pants.

He smiled sarcastically at her, "I didn't think I was coming straight into battle... I figured the camp would supply." He shrugged. "I don't like armor anyway. Slows me down. Claire," he said quietly, "please be safe."

She sighed, and turned away from him, "I'll be as safe as you."

"Claire-" Matt warned, only to be cut off.

"That's the only promise that you'll get from me." she said firmly, turning around so he could see defiance in her eyes. "You aren't allowed to risk your life for me," her tone held no room for discussion.

Matt gave her one last hard look before looking away from her and at the oncoming army. He inhaled deeply before looking away at the setting sun, which was halfway across the horizon line, giving the army in front of them a surreal look. Gods it was going to be one long night.

**~SEEKINGHADES~**

It wasn't the first time that night that he found himself cornered. This time it was by a burly (larger muscles than him) demigod adorned in armor and a dracaenae with a nasty looking spear. Matt found himself ducking under a sword before having to jump out of the long range of a javelin. Feeling a twinge of aggravation as it punctured a hole in the stomach of my shirt, he grabbed the shaft and cut it in half, slapping the large and unsuspecting demigod with it. It made contact with enough force to cause the boy to stumble into the dracaenae, knocking them both off balance. He jumped forward and swung his sword to meet the dracaenae's neck and decapitated her. Before the demigod could gain his balance, he whirled around struck him on the back of the neck with the hilt of his sword, causing him to crumple to the ground. Matt smirked with triumph as he walked forward, a hellhound lunged at him and he ducked, his sword swinging in an ark, catching it in it's abdomen. It disintegrated with a yelp.

He had been fighting for at least four hours straight. They had been pushed back a considerable amount, but the cabin still fought on. The Hermes kids had pranks up their sleeves, capable knocking dozens of enemy demigods out, and sending hordes of monsters straight to Tartarus. The children of Hecate had bewitched the cars to start shooting parts at the enemy, like steering wheels, clutches, exploding gas tanks, and motors, adding to the havoc that was already unleashed. He saw huge flowers randomly appearing as the children of Persephone started going to work.

He had to keep his worry in check as he fought on, he had been separated from Claire maybe an hour after the fighting began. Fighting in crowds wasn't his style, and now he was sure that it never would be. Three hours later, and he hadn't seen any traces of her. He hadn't seen her dead or wounded on the street, thank Ares. As he was thinking, he had to duck to avoid being decapitated by a large hellhound paw. It sent him off balance, and he stumbled backward. He dog leaped again and came at him, its mouth open, as if he was expecting a midnight snack. Matt had no intention of being dog food. He rolled out of the way, but was a second too slow. One of the dog's K9s pierced his arm, ripping through the flesh and leaving a profusely bleeding wound. He cursed loudly, thanking the gods that it was his left arm that was grazed. Before he could fight off the dog, it yelped and disintegrated. A girl with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes was there.

"You should be more careful," she advised. "You seemed distracted."

Matt managed a shrug. "Accident."

"Come here," she said, she walked forward and grabbed the side of his shirt. He had to fight back the urge to shove her away. She managed to rip it off, but it looked as though it had been cut. She quickly wrapped it around his arm. "That should hold you."

He saw movement behind her, he yelled, "Duck!" She didn't question his order, just followed through with it. Matt swung his blade around, catching a demigod in the chink of his armor by pure luck. Seeing him fall to the ground dying was regretful, but Matt didn't have time for feelings.

"Thanks!" She yelled as she straightened back up, bringing an empty hand to her side and disintegrating an unexpecting dracaenae. "Invisible blade," she replied, answering his silent question.

"Oh. And no problem. Consider us even," he replied.

"She's over there, by the way," Skylar pointed to her left as Matt planted a kick to an incoming demigod's armored abdomen, effectively knocking the breath out of him.

"Who?" he asked absently.

"Claire," the girl replied. "You're Matt, right?"

"Yeah," he replied.

She smirked. "Well, I'm Skylar," she paused as a dog came hurtling itself at them. Matt shoved her out of the way and stabbed it in its side. "Thanks again," she said breathlessly. "Claire and Connor Stoll were exterminating a huge pack of Hellhounds the last time I was there maybe ten minutes ago."

"Thanks," Matt said. And as if on a silent agreement, they both went their separate ways, Matt to the left to find his friend, and Skylar to the right.

**~SEEKINGHADES~**

They were finally finished with the fighting. Sunrise had come and the army backed off as if by some silent order. Matt still hadn't been able to locate Claire, she and Connor had gotten separated minutes before he'd made it over to him. He was looking over the wounded as he heard a huge explosion coming from the Williamsburg Bridge. Simultaneously, all of the people standing turned and stared, he could make out the image of two people standing, a crowd of people standing behind each person. He couldn't see exactly what was going on... that was until the bridge collapsed.

"We can't help them," a voice sounded. Matt looked around and saw that Connor Stoll was standing there, a deathly serious look on his face. "We have to treat our wounded... and take care of our fallen. Percy is over there."

That kicked everyone back into action. Everyone was helping get the injured ready to travel, the children of Hecate were casting healing spells over the severely wounded, while the children of Persephone were growing pain relieving flowers for the really bad wounds.

Silence consumed the group as the pegasi came and started picking them up. Everyone was migrating to the plaza hotel, it was the central point for their side. Matt was about to join the crowd, figuring that maybe Claire had traveled along with the rest of them, when he heard someone call his name. "Andrews!"

He spun around, and saw that Claire was walking toward him, a large smile on her face. "You really thinking about walking without me?"

Matt smiled softly at her and said, "Guess so."

"Bad idea," she informed him.

"Really?" he asked, feeling uncharacteristically playful. "And why's that?"

"I guess I just won't talk to you," she shrugged. Her eyes scanned his frame for a moment before landing on his bloodied arm. "You're hurt," she said, immediately walking up to him and examining his sore wound.

"It isn't that bad," he lied, "it doesn't even hurt. Besides, I thought you weren't going to talk to me."

"You were supposed to be careful," she said, looking at him an actually angry glint in her eye.

"Calm down," he instructed. "Skylar fixed it up."

Claire didn't calm down, she glared at him and gripped his right wrist. "Come on," she commanded, let's get to the hotel, you need to get that checked before it becomes a problem."

Matt tried to protest, but Claire walked forward tugging on his arm. He could have broken the grip easily, but her actions were like a kitten playing around, it may be pointless, but it was cute enough to go along with.

"I swear you are such a hypocrite!" Claire suddenly exclaimed once the hotel was in sight. "You tell me to be safe, and look at what you go and do!"

"I'm fine," he sighed. "I feel so much better knowing you're okay."

Suddenly she whirled around and looked at him straight in the eyes. "Do you value your own life?" she demanded.

Matt blinked. "Yeah, you remember when we first met, right?"

"You aren't nearly the same," Claire replied.

Matt leaned down so that they were face to face. "What makes you think that, little girl?"

She scowled at the last part, and Matt had to fight back a grin. For a daughter of Hermes, she was easy to piss off. Finally after getting her facial features under control, she raised and eyebrow and asked, "So you haven't changed?"

Matt shook his head, "Not at all."

"You're still a selfish jackass, looking after what matters most?" she questioned.

Matt was silent for a moment as he pondered the question. Claire had given him a driving force again, just like what his sister had been before she died. Matt would be damned if he was going to suffer that devastation again, so he was still doing what he's always done. "Yeah," he answered truthfully, "I am."

Something about the look of outrage on Claire's face undid him, maybe it was because she seemed stressed, and he wanted to calm her down, or maybe it was because he was still suffering from that whole night worrying about her. He finally allowed a smile to tug itself onto his face, and pulled her into a hug. Much to his amusement, Claire didn't hug him back. "Why don't you go off somewhere and be a selfish prick?" she mumbled, her voice muffled because of his chest.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Matt questioned.

"Hugging me?" she asked, sounding very confused.

Matt allowed his smirk to widen as he whispered his response in her ear, "Exactly."

**Thank you all that reviewed! And Guest... I don't think castration is possible, lol but not to worry, because the update is here!**

**And now your promised preview for Chapter one of Electrifying Currents: The Final Battle**

_**(Seph and James)**_

_**"The all knowing Persephone Current has a question?" he asked dryly.**_

_**He turned around and saw that her cheeks had reddened slightly. "I'm not all knowing," she mumbled. "And it's just a question. No need to be an ass."**_

_**James raised his eyebrow. "What's your question, Current?"**_

_**"This morning. Is there a reason why I had a feeling of deja vu. I always have them when I talk to you." she informed him, crossing her arms over her chest, and shifting slightly under his harsh gaze, making it perfectly obvious that she was uncomfortable.**_

_**James regarded her for a moment. "I don't know," he lied. "Why would I know?"**_

_**"I don't know," she mumbled.**_

_**Then she froze as if she'd been struck. She frowned are him and leaned her head to the side. "You know, don't you?"**_

_**James was thanking Jupiter for his excellent poker face, because if not she would have been able to see the surprise on his face. He allowed himself to raise an eyebrow questioningly. "And what makes you say that?" James questioned.**_

_**"Every time we do... this," she gestured to them talking, "and I have that strange feeling, you always look at me as if you're remembering something."**_

_**Of course he said the first thing that came to his mouth. "Didn't know you paid so much attention to me, Current, I'm touched."**_

_**Seph's cheeks turned bright red and he allowed his triumphant smirk to come to his face. "I don't!" she snapped. "Gods, you're such an ass, why would I want to?"**_

_**"Well maybe if you weren't such a bossy sarcastic bitch, none of this would happen," he sent right back.**_

_**The look of hurt that was slapped on her face made him feel guilty. The words were biting. "I'm not bossy," she snapped. "That's you, Mr. The World Revolves Around Me! At least I care about my friends, you're so damned selfish, and I doubt you can see past your big ego to do anything!"**_

_**Snapping, James took a slow step toward her, coming well within her personal space, and she attempted to back up, only to be met with a tree. He placed a hand on either side of her head on the bark of the tree, and leaned closer until they were nose to nose. Looking straight into her mesmerizing green ones, he growled dangerously, "One thing you don't ever call me is selfish. I have given up so much to this war that you wouldn't even begin to comprehend." He might have said more, but his voice started to break at the end.**_

_**He took one last look into her eyes, seeing curiosity and a feeling that almost looked like sympathy... toward who, exactly?**_

_**Immediately, he pushed himself away from the tree and took a step away from her, scowling harshly. He didn't want her damned sympathy, considering that she was the source of all his anguish. Well Oliver as well.**_

_**Oliver Evans was a psychotic son of Apollo. According to Matt Andrews, he wasn't in his right mind when they were on Olympus fighting for their lives. That didn't stop James from desprately wanting to commit murderer. He allowed himself to take a deep breath and calm down.**_

_**"James," Seph said softly. "Why do you treat people like this? Is it some kind of defence mechanism; are you purposely trying to push everyone away?"**_

_**He refused to look at her. He needed to walk away before he did something extremely stupid. He was on the verge of turning around when he felt her hand grasp onto his upper arm. He felt his mind fog up slightly and he gripped the wrist of the hand that was resting on his arm and pulled it off. He walked away from her. When he was at a far enough distance to avoids physical contact (by both people) be turned around and asked one simple question. "Why do you care?"**_

_**He only waited for a moment looking at her expectantly. When she remained silent, he just shrugged and turned around, walking back onto the sunny green grass, whistling a random tune, hopefully looking as though he didn't have a care in the world.**_

_**(Matt and Claire)**_

_**She wanted to bang her head against the Hermes cabin's table. She and Matt had been up almost the whole night before arguing. Oliver had been gone since the end of the Giant War, and the last place said son of Apollo had been spotted was in Mormo's lair. Matt had found a lead, which actually meant he had found a member of the opposing army, questioned him, and beat him within an inch of his life until the ex-mercenary found the answers satisfactory. That was one thing they'd argued about, Claire didn't approve of his methods.**_

_**Of course his smartass reply had been, "It hasn't failed me yet."**_

_**Another subject was the fact that he wanted to follow the lead. That was what worried her. Oliver wasn't the same boy, Claire knew that, but she also knew Matt. His fatal flaw was most likely loyalty, he wouldn't give up on Oliver, even if it killed him. 'Over my dead body,' Claire thought with dry humor. The only thing that stopped her from shaking sense into Matt (if that was possible considering the size difference), was that Oliver truly wasn't in his right mind. Claire had been with Matt on his first interrogation, and the demigod had stuttered a response telling them that he had been brainwashed and tortured into submission. She'd seen Matt angry like that only once before. She wasn't agitated about the fact that she wanted to help his friend; heck Oliver was her friend too. What bothered her was that he wanted to go alone.**_

_**"You're staying here. I know you'll be safe here."**_

_**She rolled her eyes, the boy treated her like a frail China doll. She'd put her foot down, informing him that if he wanted her to stay behind, he was going to have to tie her up. She had noticed the corners of his lips twitching and quaver of his voice, making it obvious that he was trying to hide amusement, as he replied. "Was I supposed to be opposed to that?"**_

_**Oddly enough, she wasn't amused at all.**_

_**She'd stood up abruptly, informed him that he was a dimwit (not necessarily those exact words), and walked away from the warm and damp sand of the sound, straight to her cabin. She hadn't talked to him since, she hadn't been in any mood to talk to him. She did, however, spare him a glance as he sat at the Ares table talking to Mark.**_

_**She allowed her eyes to look over his profile. She knew thar standing up he was much taller, six foot at least, needless to say, he towered over her measly five foot five. He was built like his brothers, all those years of hard work as a mercenary had apparently paid off. His shaggy brown hair desperately needed a trim, but he refused to let anyone from the Aphrodite cabin near him with a blade thar wasn't a sword ("You could cut it," he had told her), and his deep brown eyes, which she couldn't see because he was sitting with his back to her, seemed to sparkle with warmth whenever she looked at them. It stunned her to think about him as the cold and calculating boy that she'd met two years previously.**_

_**She managed a half smile at the thought of how much he had changed since she'd met him as she turned away and looked at Skylar Rocaine, he sister, who was sitting right in front of her. "Why did you get back so late?" she questioned, smirking slightly.**_

_**Claire felt her cheeks heat up slightly at the obvious insinuation. "I was talking to Matt," she admitted.**_

_**Skylar smirked. "Talking," she said. "Really?"**_

_**"Yes, really," Claire sighed and decided to tell Skylar, maybe she would know what to do. "He's worried about Oliver. He's gotten a lead on his whereabouts, and he wants to check it out."**_

_**"I'm failing to see a problem," Skylar admitted. "Oliver's his best friend... aside from you that is," cue another blush from Claire, "and its perfectly normal for him to go after any leads to find him."**_

_**"I know that," she replied. "And I don't blame him. Oliver's my friend too. The problem is that he insists on going alone."**_

_**"Oh," Skylar said slowly, "I get it now. And I imagine you told him that you'd be damned if that happened."**_

_**"Pretty much," Claire said, rubbing her eyes. "I told him that he would have to tie me up."**_

_**"And what happened?" Skylar asked leaning forward, clearly interested, she could tell by the way that the light sparkled in her eyes.**_

_**Claire snorted, "He pretty much said challenge accepted."**_

_**"You have to admit that its cute how much he cares about you," Skylar said.**_

_**Claire let out a small laugh, "Don't let him hear you use that word. I think he has something against it. Besides, as adorable as it can be, its also a gigantic pain in the ass."**_

_**"I have to go with him, Skylar," said, letting a note of desperation color her voice. "I know he's gonna try to sneak out at night without me. He did it one time before and I was worried sick... that was when he got his lead."**_

_**"Get Mark to watch out for him," Skylar shrugged. "I don't think he'd be opposed to it."**_

_**"I might just have to do that," she mused.**_


	12. Epilogue of Sorts

**Here is the final chapter/epilogue. Asked for by SkylarRocaineDaughterofHermes. I hope you enjoy.**

**CLAIRE:**

She only felt confusion from Matt, and she wasn't entirely sure if she liked it or not. The severely scarred son of Ares was starting to get under her skin, normally people meant it as a bad thing, but Claire wasn't entirely sure if she wanted him to leave. That smile that he gave her coupled with the hug made her feel oddly warm and fuzzy inside... not that she'd ever admit it. She allowed him to hold her for a few more seconds while she stood there limply, feeling an unbelievable amount of exhaustion setting in. Her whole body hurt, especially that cut that she'd received on her side from a dracaenae's spear.

"Let's go," she said gently pulling away from him. "Quit trying to distract me because you're getting that arm checked out, and then we're getting some sleep."

Matt just nodded mutely, apparently seeing that he was losing his fight. Claire dragged him inside the hotel, and tried no to show the awe of the beauty. Instead, she focused on the cool air cutting off the heat from her skin. Matt was behind her looking around at the shiny tiled floors to the chandeliers, appreciation showing from his raised eyebrow.

She walked over to the desk, and took one of the keys laying on top, they were most likely free rooms. Before either of them could take another step, two people were in front of them. Kayla and Oliver did a quick sweep over both of them, apparently assessing them for injuries. Oliver dragged Matt off to a fluffy armchair and began working on his injury.

"Where were you hurt?" Kayla asked quietly. "I can tell you're trying to hide it from Matt."

"Side," she managed, suddenly standing on her feet seemed to be a hard job.

She took a step forward and stumbled slightly. She would have fell flat on her face if it wasn't for Kayla. She grabbed Claire's shoulders and steadied her. Wrappping one of Claire's arms around her shoulders, she started stumbling toward the couch. "You need to sit down."

"Not by Matt," Claire breathed, wincing as the wound on her side stretched. "I don't want him to know."

Her breathing was rapidly turning ragged and her eyes felt droopy. "Too late," she heard Kayla murmur.

"Claire?" came Matt's questioning voice. She looked up at him and saw that he was moving toward her, his arm looked better.

She drew a breath in and let it out slowly. "I'm fine," she said, not sure if anyone heard her. She slumped over on Kayla, her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she passed out.

**MATT:**

Kayla grunted as Claire leaned completely against her. She wrapped an arm around Claire as she attempted to keep the shorter girl from falling onto the hard tiled floor. He sprinted over and picked her up, pulling her away from Kayla and into his own arms. "What the hell happened?" he growled.

"I don't know," Kayla squeaked, obviously alarmed by the tone of Matt's voice. He felt bad but he didn't have time to focus on his guilt. He marched over to the stairs and up to the room with the number of the key that was in Claire's hand. Immediately Kayla stepped in front of him and opened the door, she looked as though she was afraid that Matt was going to kick the door in. If she would have been any slower, that would have been exactly what would have happened.

Immediately, he marched in. It must have been a suite, because they were in a front room. He honestly didn't care, he walked over to the couch and set her down gently on the soft material. He stepped out of the way as Kayla rushed over and lifted the side of her black shirt up. Matt felt his heart turn to ice as he saw the freely bleeding wound. How had he not noticed it before?

"Why didn't she tell me?" he breathed, clenching his hair on the sides of his head in frustration. "What was she thinking?"

He heard running and turned around, glad for the excuse not to look at how badly she was hurt. Oliver just ran in, a concerned look over his features. "Sorry," he said after taking a deep breath. "Son of Demeter walked in with an arrow stuck in his arm. How is she?"

"She's lost a lot of blood," Kayla replied from behind Matt. "I'm staunching right now, the nectar is helping too, but she needs to do something I know that she isn't going to want to do."

"Which is?" Matt asked impatiently, turning around once again to look at Kayla. She was hunched over Claire, cutting the injury from view, but leaving her pale face, which rolled to the side, facing him, in complete view.

"Rest," she replied, standing up. He saw a thick layer of gauze over her wound, the only clean looking thing on her skin, around it was tinged a brownish red... the color of dried blood.

"She's gonna rest," Matt assured the daughter of Apollo. "I'll make sure of it myself."

"No," Kayla said, "you won't."

"Why not?" Matt demanded dangerously, taking a step toward her.

"There were a few casualties in the Hephaestus cabin. The guys there were about the same size as you... the armor may be a bit worn, but you need some. I told Jake Mason that when I found you, I would send you to him. The Stolls are leading a drug store raid and I told Will I would go with them... Oliver can watch over her for now."

Matt looked at Oliver hopefully. Oliver stared back uneasily. "She doesn't like me very much," he informed Matt.

"Its a good time for bonding," Matt shrugged. "I imagine you haven't told her about our first mission... or that time where we were forced to go into that school undercover for that daughter of Athena. She'll warm up to you eventually."

Oliver grumbled a few things under his breath, but finally agreed. "Fine. Don't be too long, because if she tries to impale me..."

"She doesn't hate you that much," Kayla replied. "You saved Matt's life when we were in Hades."

"Anyways," Matt said shrugging. "I'll probably be back before she wakes up. It doesn't take that long to get some armor."

Oliver gave him a weak smile before settling on the chair, the bridge of his nose was pinched between his thumb and his forefinger and middle finger.

With that settled, Matt and Kayla both walked out of the door, Matt sending one last look at the sleeping Claire. He might just kill her when she woke up.

**~SEEKINGHADES~**

He didn't know what happened to just getting some armor. As soon as he located Jake Mason, a rather large and burly son of Hephaestus, he was taken to an empty hotel room that was laden with armor. "Take your pick," he said, "you need it more than their owners."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Matt said sincerely, looking at him. "I... I know how you feel."

"Okay," Jake said, his tone made it clear that he didn't believe what Matt was saying.

Matt walked forward and picked up a set of armor absently. It seemed to be the right size. He quickly walked past the councilor for the Hephaestus Cabin, thanking him quietly for the armor. As he walked back into the lobby of the hotel, he paused right in the middle. Percy Jackson was talking quietly to a satyr, Thalia, the daughter of Zeus was there too, she cursed loudly at something Percy muttered to her.

Matt turned around and walked away from the room that led to a restful spot where he could relax and sleep until nightfall when the army would undoubtedly return. He needed some fresh air. He needed to figure out exactly how a girl that he had only know for three weeks, and had only spent one week of that with her. Though they had literally gone through hell together, he still didn't understand why she had such a strong affect on him.

OLIVER:

As soon as Matt told him that he would probably be back before Claire woke up, he should have figured something was up. He wasn't the luckiest guy around, and remembering Matt's predictions from when they were younger, he should have realized that Matt was wrong.

As soon as they left, his eyes darted to her sleeping form in dread. He wasn't scared, he just wasn't good with people, and he knew that she deserved an apology and a better explanation from him than he gave in Hades, but he didn't know how to give one. He was honestly contemplating giving her a sedative to prevent the painful (for him at least) conversation from happening. It was tempting, but he couldn't... Matt would murder him if he found out. Despite how welcoming Matt had been to him, their friendship was still strained, he wasn't as easy going as he used to be, Oliver had managed to piss him off at least once a day, and honestly putting his friend into a drug induced slumber might not be the right way to put himself on Matt's good side.

Oliver sat back in his chair, waiting for the inevitable to happen. And it did maybe five minutes later. Claire started shifting in her sleep, getting more and more restless, before her eyes fluttered open.

"Ugh," she groaned. "What happened? Where am I?"

Oliver tried for a smile as he walked into her line of view. "You're safe," he responded. "You need to rest, though. You've lost quite a bit of blood."

"Where're the others?" she questioned, trying to sit up.

"Claire," Oliver said, "as the only healer in the room, I suggest that you lay back down."

She in response glared at him.

"Look," Oliver said exasperatedly, "I know you don't like me, but that's no reason to play around with your health. Matt'll be back soon, and if you're not resting, I'm not sure which of us he'll kill first."

Claire sighed in exasperation and laid back down. "Better?"

"Much," Oliver replied. "Now as for your question, Kayla has gone on a drug store raid with the Stolls, whoever they are, and Matt went to see a Jake Mason about armor."

"How long have they been gone?" Claire asked.

"Not long," Oliver said. "Matt told me to tell you anything that you wanted to know to pass the time. Maybe you won't get agitated if I do."

Claire raised an eyebrow at him as Oliver pulled his chair so that it was facing her. He took a seat, resting his tired muscles, and looked at Claire expectantly.

Claire bunched her eyebrows together and pursed her lips as she thought of an appropriate question. "What's your last name?"

"Evans," Oliver replied with a raised eyebrow. "May I ask the reason for the question."

"You've called me Wilson a couple times and I couldn't respond back in kind," she replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Anything else?" Oliver asked.

Claire was silent for a moment, clearly thinking, before she said, "What was Matt like when he was young?"

"I imagine you mean before he was sixteen?" Oliver questioned.

Claire nodded mutely.

"He was a really good guy when he was younger," Oliver replied. "He was nice and caring to the people he loved. And the thing he hated most was a bully, he had one hell of a temper, worse than it is now." Oliver looked out of the window, deep in thought. "That's actually how we met."

"What happened?" Claire asked, sounding truly intrigued.

"Well," Oliver said, smiling at the memory, "we were in second grade..."

**~SEEKINGHADES~**

_Oliver was sick of Albert Spencer. The stupid boy had been bothering him since he'd started school in kindergarten two years previously. He always took his crayons, his playdough, and kicked sand at him every chance he got. The only thing that stopped little seven year old Oliver from fighting back was his mom. She told him that he was stronger than the other kids, and that he couldn't take advantage of it._

_So there he was on the playground. He'd hidden from Albert and his friends in a small clump if trees, out of slight from everyone. He had a sketchpad in hand and was currently trying to draw a picture of a Bow and arrow set that he'd seen in a dream. He hadn't been out there too long, and he was concentrating way too hard to hear the crunching of leaves on the ground until it was too late. The sketchpad was ripped from his hand by the familiar blonde haired green eyed kid, Albert. He threw it behind him and his buddies caught it, and started looking through it, tearing out the pictures that he had worked so hard on drawing._

_Oliver glared at Albert and stood up. "Give it back!" he demanded._

_"Or what Ugly Oliver?" he shoved Oliver away from him, sending him tumbling into the tree that he was just leaning against._

_Before Oliver could do anything, another voice sounded, "Hey, jerkface! Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?"_

_A new boy stepped into the clump of trees. He was definitely tall for being seven, taller than Albert. He had light brown hair, and brown eyes. Oliver recognized him as the quiet boy, Matt, that spent more time in the office than in class. A fear flashed on Albert's face before being hidden again by a mask of arrogant confidence. "And who do you think I should pick on? You?"_

_"I'd like to see you try," Matt sneered._

_Albert turned toward Matt and walked toward him. "When I get finished with you, you're gonna go crying to your mommy." A look of slight pain flashed across the brown haired boy's face, before he covered it up again with his angry mask. "That's right," Albert drawled, "your mother's dead!"_

_That's when Matt snapped. His fist reeled back and sprung forward, catching the blonde kid in the nose, and sent him sprawling. Albert's buddies froze from tearing Oliver's sketchpad and looked at their gang leader on the ground, to a severely angry looking Matt. "So," Matt asked casually. "Who's next?"_

_Silence consumed everyone before all of the boys scattered, Albert getting up and following them from behind. Matt looked at Oliver, and Oliver stared back, not entirely sure if he should be thanking him or be afraid of him. "Those boys aren't that tough," he said gruffly, "you shouldn't let them treat you like that."_

_"M-my mother told me that I was stronger than them and I couldn't take advantage of them..." Oliver mumbled, refusing to look at the large boy._

_"Yeah," Matt said, "well your mom doesn't have to put up with this, you do..." He looked down at the pieces of paper on the ground and picked them up for Oliver. "I imagine these are yours."_

_Oliver nodded mutely. "Well here," Matt said holding them out for Oliver to take. When the blonde made no move to get them, Matt rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to hurt you."_

_Oliver stepped forward and grabbed the papers, smiling slightly... it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship._

**~SEEKINGHADES~**

Claire had a smile on her face as he finished the story. "I can see him doing something like that... and I'm sorry you were tormented."

"Its in the past now," Oliver said, shrugging. "Don't worry about it."

"How did his mom die?" Claire questioned.

"Cancer," Oliver sighed. "Same kind that killed his sister. "He doesn't show it, but he's lost without her. He blames himself for her death, it drove him halfway insane. There's no other way he would have begged for death." Oliver looked at Claire. "When I saw him in the Underworld, it was the first time I'd seen him in two years. I've never seen him so angry as I did when I twisted your arm. It was the first time he'd ever physically hurt me. You've done something to him, I don't know what, but its changed him, he's like he was when I first met him again."

Claire was silent, just staring at Oliver in apparent shock.

"The strange thing is," Oliver confided, "I don't think he knows what you did either."

"I don't know what to say to that," she mumbled.

"You don't have to say anything," Oliver said shrugging, "I'm thanking you for saving my best friend."

"But I didn't do anything," Claire protested.

Before Oliver could say more, the door opened. An exhausted looking Matt took a step forward, and closed the door. As soon as he saw that Claire was awake, a tired smile came to his face. He closed his eyes tightly before opening them back up again and looking at Oliver. "Kayla's back with the supplies."

"Alright," Oliver said, thankful for the excuse to leave. "Ima go and see if they need any help."

Matt nodded absently and yawned loudly.

"You need some sleep," Oliver informed him.

"Didn't need a medic to tell me that one," Matt said laughingly. "I plan on passing out as soon as I get in a bed... maybe sooner if the carpet's comfortable enough."

Oliver snorted, Matt's sense of humor was always better when he was tired. He immediately walked out of the room, closing the door behind them.

**MATT:**

He watched his friend walk out through half lidded eyes. That was until a voice sounded from behind him, "You look like shit, Andrews."

"That's the second time I've heard that," Matt commented.

"It's the truth," she sighed weakly.

"You know," Matt sighed tiredly. "You guys trying to tell me something?"

"Yeah," Claire managed. "You don't look good without your beauty sleep."

If his brain wouldn't have been sleep deprived, he may or may not have said what he did next. He smirked, sat down next to her head by the couch, and asked, "So, what do I look like when I have my sleep?"

He had the pleasure of seeing a pink tint come to her cheeks instead of his for once. He decided to spare her, and moved on to a more serious subject.

"You know," he said leaning his head against the side of the cusion. "If I wasn't so tired, I might just murder you."

"What do you mean?" Claire asked, looking at him sideways.

"You didn't tell me that you were hurt, little girl," he replied.

"Didn't want you to worry," she mumbled.

"I did a hell of a lot more worrying because of it," he replied. "Don't ever do that to me again. I've never been so scared in my life... I honestly didn't know if you were breathing, and all of the blood..." He trailed off as he realized just how terrified he really was. "Please, Claire. Never again."

"What would you have done," she asked smiling slightly. "Carried me almost a mile to the hotel?"

He knew that it was a rhetorical question, made to make him feel foolish. Thing is, he didn't. "Yes," he was completely serious, "I would have."

Claire went silent for a moment in apparent shock.

He got on his tired knees and leaned over her, so they were nose to nose, leaning his forehead against hers. "If something happens to you, I don't know what I would do... all I know is that if someone lays a single hand on you, there'll be hell to pay."

Claire looked at him with a half smile. "If it makes you feel any better, that dracaenae is rotting in Tartarus right now."

Her warm breath fanned across his face, making it hard to concentrate. "It doesn't," he replied. "I wasn't the one to kill it."

"Matt," Claire said softly. "You need some rest. We'll have more time to talk later, I promise." Claire gently pressed her lips against his cheek. "Pleasant dreams."

"Not lately," Matt snorted.

He stood up slowly and before he went another step, he looked down at Claire. "You want a bed?"

"I'm fine," she replied.

"You are going to rest, right?" Matt asked.

"I promise," Claire said.

Despite the fact that it came from a daughter of Hermes, he still believed her. Nodding, he walked to the next room over, trying to stifle a yawn.

_(Now we all know that the Titan War was won, and I imagine that the Giant War will be won. So this is what happens two weeks after the Giant War is over)_

**OLIVER:**

He was quietly sitting in the living room of Matt's house, enjoying the cool temperature compared to the stifling heat of the outside. He'd just made himself a sandwich, and was about to take a big bite out of it when he heard a crashing noise. Slowly, he got off of the couch, and pulled a dagger out of its sheath. He crept forward and out to the short hallway to the front door, where the source of the noise was.

Immediately he realized what happened. The door had been knocked down. Two people stood in the doorway. One was a beautiful woman with black hair, red eyes, and a sinister smile. Just being in the same room with her made him want to revert back to his old ways, made him want to run around, killing the people he hated and making money off of it.

He frowned at the feeling and backed away. The other girl was maybe his age, she had short black hair and soulless grey pits for eyes. He knew who Elizabeth was only too well.

"Get the hell out of my house," Oliver said coldly, holding his knife out in front of him.

"I believe you were right, dear," the beautiful woman said. "He is very spirited. Perfect soldier.

"For what?" Oliver growled.

Both women just looked at him, and Oliver stared back. He felt the same sensation, the urge to do something purposely bad wash over him again. He tried to fight it off, but it took every ounce of his concentration. He was so distracted by it that he didn't even realize that Elizabeth was walking up to him. Before he could do anything else, he felt something hard hit him in the back his head, causing his vision to go black. He fell to the ground and passed out immediately, still subconsciously fighting for control.

**I have a question: do you prefer chapters this long, or do you like them shorter? Because the chapters in Electrifying Currents: The Final Battle are probably going to be this long or longer.**

**Leave a review? Tell me what you thought of the story as a whole, and the first chapter of "The Final Battle" is coming soon! **

**I am terribly sorry for the typos. I checked over the chapter twice caught all of them, but apparently my phone didn't save the edited version.**


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